Unexpected emotions
by Tennoda
Summary: After recovering from his injuries, Scar returns to earth on a hunting trip and, surprise surprise, runs into Lex. Will there be love hanging in the air or skinned bodies?
1. Prologue

Well, i'm not actually sure what to say here. Perhaps that i don't own Scar or Lex, but the story is my own.

And incase anyone would comment on this story: please don't kill me with your words. ' I haven't written anything in years, this is my first fanfiction and i believe you can imagine how hard it is to translate a story to a foreign language. But try to enjoy. I promise it'll get better the more i write.

* * *

Antarctica.

The last great adventure left to man.

Last to many of her comrades at least. A year had passed since Lex had travelled to the icy pyramid, but time still hadn't dimmed the painful memories.

And it probably never would.

She would carry them with her for the rest of her life as well as the two scars on her cheek. The mark of the hunters, which had been burned into her face by a humanoid she had named Scar. Surprisingly, she was somewhat proud of it. Despite the fact that these hunters bluntly took advantage oh humans, Lex had managed to form a special connection with one of them. So after seeing the serious injuries Scar had suffered from the battle with the alien queen, she felt sincerely sad. The appearing of a gigantic mother ship had nevertheless saved the wounded warrior. At least that's what Lex was hoping for.

She had seen the other hunters carrying their half-unconscious comrade into the bowels of the spaceship, but after that, his fate was a mystery to her. Both that and the fact why she cared so much. Still every now and then she found herself fiddling with the metal spear that Scar had given her just before he'd been taken away. At that moment there had been something in the hunter's eyes that Lex couldn't forget.

* * *

The journey to earth had never felt so long. Scar was cleansing his equipment for the second time after the take off. Of course Scar wasn't his real name, but that is what the female human had called him. After he had recovered, the young predator had asked some of the elders who knew the human language to teach him. 

For strategic reasons.

He was one of the few that had passed the maturity ritual and got to go on a hunting trip so soon. He wasn't allowed to go by himself though. Luckily another young warrior had offered to come with him. Scar was looking forward to the upcoming battles. From what he had heard, his travelling comrade was an excellent hunter. Scar couldn't wait to prove he was better.

Still there was something disturbing his concentration. They were returning to earth, and somewhere among countless amounts of people was that female too. It was a foolish thought, but what if they were to meet each other again? Surely she had seemed weak at first, but soon Scar had seen her exceptional courage. Especially when fighting the alien queen. He was ashamed to admit, but he never could had survived there without the help of the human. In spite of the shame, he felt strangely fond of that female. How great it would be to get to hunt with her by his side some day. In time, maybe even as his companion.

A sudden crash interrupted Scar's pondering. He had been so focused on his thoughts, he'd lost his sense of time and space. The embarrassed warrior picked up the knife that had fallen from his hand and let out a few irritated clicks. Well, he still had lots of time to spend. He might as well check his equipment again.


	2. Caves

First i have to say: thanks to everyone who read the prologue and maybe even liked it. I didn't expect to receive any comments, so i was really surprised. :) And again, sorry for the possibly bad english. I may have invented new frases and words since my dictionary really isn't that helpful.

* * *

Complete silence was a welcome change to the constant noises of the metropolis. Only the echo of Lex's footsteps surrounded her in the dark. Turning the flashlight on, she for a fleeting moment expected to see a facehugger flying towards her or even a drooling alien lurking in the shadows. The cave in front of her was, however, empty. Apparently she had a pretty wild imagination.

The dark-skinned woman took a deep breath to chase the old demons away. As if such monsters were waiting behind every rock. Decisively, she turned her forehead-light on too and prepared to explore rest of the maze-like cave.

Alexa Woods had always been independent and kept her feet on the ground. Figuratively speaking of course; she did spend most of her time climbing mountains or going through the caves beneath them. She wouldn't let mere memories get the best of her. With the help of her wrist-compass Lex moved forward, watching out for treacherous chasms that could easily sweep careless adventurers away into unknown depths. She was an experienced guide, though, and knew exactly what to do in different environments. That's the reason she was selected to participate in Weyland's expedition in the first place.

So far the cave had been sloping steadily, but now Lex was facing a very long and steep fall. The light from her flashlight didn't even reach the bottom. Anyone else would have turned back and looked for another route, but this woman had adventure in her blood. So she put the flashlight away from her hand and started descending, knowing well that slipping now could mean serious injuries. A seven feet tall, strong predator would have been a great companion at the moment. Waiting at the bottom, ready to catch her in case she would fall. Lex scolded herself for letting her thoughts stray in such a risky situation. Still, she couldn't help, but to grin trying to imagine the enormous hunter balancing in narrow and slippery caves. And acting chivalrously to boot.

* * *

"Damned! Damn this planet! Damn human beings and especially these miniscule caves!" A long litany of worsening curses kept coming as Scar was letting off steam with clicks and roars typical to his native tongue. His comrade tried his best to keep a straight face when the raging warrior hit his head on one of the stalactites.

Again.

The predator, whose name roughly translated in English would have been Stealth, truly lived up to his name. Even though the two hunters were about the same size, there was a world of difference between their movements. Scar was the type to just walk in the middle of the action and start smashing heads, as for Stealth it was quite the opposite. Usually his prey never got to know what had hit them. He knew how to take his enemies by surprise and nothing escaped his sharp eyes. Especially not the fact that right now Scar wasn't exactly in his element.

"Why did we have to come to these lousy caverns?" Slightly calmed down predator demanded.

Stealth wisely made sure that he didn't sound amused when answering.

"Here it is most unlikely that humans would come and accidentally find us. And even if someone came here, we could hear them from afar".

Scar had no choice, but to give up. Somewhat older and more experienced hunter was automatically in charge. He still couldn't understand, though, why any sane being would want to come there. Of course he didn't have a clue that at the same time Lex was eagerly descending to the depths of some other cave. These caves, however, didn't have anything that would have interested him. Luckily, they didn't have to come there often. Only to rest occasionally and to clean up the skulls they've acquired.

A couple of weeks earlier they had landed in the middle of a vast and uninhabited forest. The first thought for both of the predators was that they probably would have to hike to the nearest town to find something to hunt. But it seemed that luck was on their side after all. Right on the first day they had come across with a small group of five people.

Armed people.

The invisible observers had followed this group that seemed to be tracking some large, furry creature with sharp claws. They were clearly hunters.

Unfortunately for them, they had become the hunted.

Some other groups had come too, but few were even worth the effort. If this continued, they would have to search from further off after all.

* * *

Descending deeper into the cave had definitely been worth it. This was just what Lex had needed. Amazing rock formations that couldn't be found above ground, an underground stream that led to an entire lake, and bats.

Lots of bats.

She didn't care for them much, though.

Nevertheless, Lex kept on going, ignoring the fact that she was most likely covered with bat dropping. The place was simply too fascinating to be thinking such things. For example, the lake that she was now standing by. With a little luck, she might even get a glimpse of one of those eyeless cave fishes that she knew were living in such conditions.

Apparently her luck had run out, since the next thing Lex knew was that she had lost her footing and was sliding right into the lake. The freezing water was absorbed by her clothes in an instant. But to look on the bright side, she had managed to land on her feet. And the water was only up to her waist.

What luck!

To top it off, the rock Lex had fallen off from was too steep to climb up so she had to walk around the lake until she found a better one. The weight of the water in her pants and the fact that she was numb with cold made moving difficult. She would have to return to the surface. The flashlight was nowhere to be found so Lex assumed it had fallen into the lake when she had slipped. Quickly she shook some of the water off from her clothes and boots and headed back.

Climbing down there had been pretty hard, but it was nothing compared to climbing up with numb fingers and feet. Persistently fighting, she kept on pushing forward, sometimes stumbling, but always hanging on. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it to the upper part of the cave. Exhausted, Lex couldn't wait to get out of there, straight to home and into a hot bath, where she would spend the rest of the week. With that in mind, she took the last few steps out of the cave.

And faced an unexpected sight.

"Alexa Woods! You're just the person I was looking for!"

Outside, a welcoming campfire was waiting, and by its side, sat a familiar-looking man with a wide smile on his face.

"A-Antonio!" Lex stuttered, not believing her eyes. What were the chances that she had just bumped into her old high school-boyfriend in the middle of nowhere? In daylight Lex also got a better look of herself. As she had guessed, the bats had really bombarded her. On top of that, she was sweaty, her pants were dripping water and she was pretty sure she had caught a fish in her pocket.

How was that for a first impression?


	3. The first sign

Thank you sooo much for all the comments and alerts and everything. I'm just amazed.

But at last i got some action in this chapter. Even if just a little bit.

And then the usual: sorry for the bad english and i don't own Lex or Scar, but the story's mine.

* * *

The rest of the day felt like a weird dream.

There Lex was sitting by the fire, shivering and staring at her old boyfriend, who couldn't have looked better even if he had tried. As for her, she was happy there were no mirrors nearby. The man looked at her, grinning like he had just read her mind.

"I'm sure no one could manage to look as beautiful as you after crawling in underground tunnels".

The same old charmer.

Lex set aside her confused feelings and decided to handle the peculiar situation with reason.

"Why are you here Antonio?"

Not even the blunt question could wipe the confident smile off the man's face.

"You always did think too much, my dear. Aren't you even a least bit happy to see me?"

Lex didn't really know what to say to that. Sure they had had some fun times back in high school, but in the end, they had simply been too different.

He hadn't taken the break up very well.

"You didn't answer my question", Lex demanded firmly.

Antonio rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"The same stubborn nature, I see. Don't worry, I'm a changed man nowadays and I have accepted the fact that there can't be anything deeper than friendship between us". After clearing that, he leaned forward with a serious look on his face.

"Actually, I came to ask your help in a serious matter".

This caught Lex's attention, so she urged the man to continue.

"First of all, do you happen to remember the national park of Grames that has been in my family for a few generations?" Lex nodded, remembering that he had mentioned it once.

"There have been some problems. A large amount of people have disappeared without a trace and nobody knows for sure what has happened. Some of the rangers think they have gotten lost in the numerous caves in the area".

Lex understood what Antonio was getting at.

"So you want me to lead a search party to those caves?"

"Most of them are highly dangerous and I've heard you happen to be one of the best guides".

Lex took a moment to think about what he had told her. It sure sounded serious and if human lives were at stake, how could she refuse.

"How soon are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'll send a driver to pick you up at six a.m."

That made Lex lift her eyebrows.

"Not only you knew exactly where to find me today, you also know where I live currently".

Antonio laughed, looking guilty. "A couple of phone calls and a little bit of pulling strings. I was sure you would take the job".

It seemed pointless to argue about it, so Lex let it go.

However, she would have liked to know, what kind of strings the man was talking about. Strangely, the first thing coming to her mind was mafia.

That could have had something to do with Antonio's Italian origin, though. Hair and eyes, equally dark, created a mystical appearance that was soften by his enchanting smile. Lex had always been suspicious of that smile, since it had more than once persuaded her to go along with unexpected things.

"Do you need a ride back to the civilized world?"

This time Lex resisted _the_ smile.

"No thanks. I think I'll manage by myself".

"I guess you always have".

Antonio began leaving, but turned back again to shake Lex's hand.

"It was a pleasure seeing you again. I'm looking forward to working with you".

The woman gave him an incomplete smile as she grabbed his hand.

"Till tomorrow, Mr. Grames".

It must've been the still damp clothes, but suddenly a horrible chill went down her spine.

* * *

A cold wind blew against Scar's face.

The hunter had removed his mask to enjoy the chase to the max. This human male was good at running away. He seemed to know the forest like the back of his hand, choosing paths that would have lost any normal pursuer.

But he couldn't lose a predator.

The distance between them got shorter rapidly. Scar drew out his wrist blades and prepared to end the game soon.

A sudden observation, however, made him stop on a dime.

The human couldn't see the danger ahead, but kept running. About 65 feet away was Stealth, cloaked, as always when hunting.

Scar growled, realizing that the bastard was going to steal _his_ prey.

Stealth stood perfectly still as the unsuspecting human ran straight towards him. At the last moment he, instead of piercing his victim with his blades, grabbed him by the throat, stopping the surprised man in his tracks.

Struggling in the grip of the ridiculously strong predator proved to be futile. Stealth lifted the man up with ease, like humans who want to examine a freshly caught fish.

Meanwhile, Scar had stridden next to them, glaring at his hunting comrade.

He returned the look calmly.

For a moment, it was completely silent except for the man gasping for air.

Finally, without saying a word, Stealth tossed the human at Scar's feet and left.

Since the very start, there had been some serious competition between the two predators. They did respect each other's skills, but at the same time they tried to show off their own by any means necessary. The flaw of many young warriors that usually disappeared after a few years of hunting.

Scar followed the leaving predator with his eyes, forgetting the human laying on the ground. Until he got hit to the head with a branch.

Pulling himself together, the hunter lowered his eyes back to his prey, which had gotten to his feet and apparently decided to fight to the end.

A new blow from the branch came, straight to the stomach this time, but with no effect. A terrifying crack, however, was heard when Scar took the man by his neck and threw him head first into a rock.

Stealth's actions had ruined his good mood. Otherwise he would have spent more time playing with the human.

Frustrated, Scar swore he would prove his true skills. All the previous hunts had only been a warm-up to him. Now they could start luring more humans into the woods, preferably armed people.

Scar knew exactly what to do to get their attention.

Grabbing his knife, the predator bent down next to the man's body and started working.

* * *

The next morning Lex woke up feeling lively despite the previous day's ordeal. She had packed last night, so in the morning she had lots of time to enjoy the unusually red sunrise.

At six, the driver arrived to pick her up and soon Lex was sitting on a plane, going through some information she had collected about the Grames Park.

There truly were many caves, but visitors were strictly forbidden to go to them without experienced guides. There had even been some landslides. So she would have to be extra careful.

It still didn't seem likely that so many groups could have gotten trapped because of them. Maybe getting there would shed some light on the situation. Before that there wasn't much she could do, but to gather strength.

Lex had a feeling that the next few days would be long.

The flight itself wasn't that long and so in a couple of hours she was in a car again, admiring the scenery of a small town.

She hadn't seen a glimpse of Antonio yet. In the old days the man would had been like glued to her tail. Lex appreciated her private time and had pretty often been irritated of his constant presence. As well as his exaggerated tendency of getting jealous.

Though, Lex had felt like time had changed Antonio somehow. Maybe even to the better. The asphalt turned into gravel as the car moved to a remote area.

After two miles, by Lex's estimate, they drove through the park's gate.

There were already four cars in the parking lot, but she suspected that they didn't belong to visitors. Not after all the disappearings.

Lex got out of the car, stretching and enjoying the beautiful evergreen forest.

It hadn't yet snowed, but frost made everything sparkle.

Right then a black car drove to the lot. Lex didn't need to guess twice who had just arrived.

Antonio got out, dressed in a short, black jacket and leather shoes.

The first thing Lex noticed was that she would have to find him more fitting clothes for the cave searching.

Before they could even greet each other, they heard a panicking scream from behind the cottages.

After taking a quick look to one another, they rushed to the scene.

Running around the corner they saw a blond-haired man, shivering on his knees.

Antonio hurried immediately to support him.

"Mark! What happened? Are you alright?"

He asked the last-mentioned after seeing that the man had thrown up violently.

Other people had emerged from the cottages, wondering what was going on.

"Mark!" Antonio repeated sternly.

The youngster couldn't get a word out, but he pointed to the path behind him. Lex was among the first to run to the path.

For a while, nobody saw anything special, until one of the rangers cried out in terror and pointed something.

Lex's eyes widened. She understood well why the young man had been in such a bad shape. Anyone would have been after seeing a throughoutly skinned body hanging from a tree.


	4. Meetings

Again, thank you all for reading my story. I've been so concentrated on this that i actually dreamed of fighting a predator one night. XD But now... Lex meeting Scar is approaching. ;)

* * *

The shocking find had affected everyone present. They had soon gotten the body down from the tree and after a while, recognized it to be one of the forest rangers. The town's sheriff was called to the scene immediately. Though nobody believed that he could explain what was going on. Not on of them had been prepared to see such monstrosity.

The sheriff still had his duties so he started questioning people while Lex and Antonio watched from further off.

"Poor Mark", Antonio said with a low voice. "He's one of the gentlest persons I've ever met and doesn't deserve to see something so horrible".

Lex could easily believe that. Blond curls and kind of a skinny appearance made him look innocent, even though his bluish gray eyes were dark with pain. Antonio pointed at a slightly older, short-haired woman next to Mark.

"She's Annie. The others gave her the nickname the mother bear. She has almost adopted the young Mark here. Always taking care of him".

Despite the grave situation, this brought a smile to Lex's lips. The description was accurate, no doubt. Even now Annie was keeping close to her protégé. Especially the brown and rumpled hair was very similar to a bear's fur.

Lex glanced at Antonio.

"You know them pretty well, don't you?"

The man smiled sadly.

"Yes. This is as painful for me as it is for them".

Meanwhile the sheriff had stopped questioning Mark and turned to Antonio.

"We might be having some madman running in the forest. And if that's the case, it's unlikely that we find those missing campers alive".

He sighed deeply and scratched his head under the hat.

"The park has to be closed and the forest searched for clues. Or bodies.

Antonio put his hand on Lex's shoulder.

"And here's our insurance for the caves. Sheriff Benson, meet Alexa Woods, our specialist guide and environmental technician".

The aged sheriff shook her hand warmly.

"Welcome to our town, Miss Woods. Unfortunately this isn't the best time to be here".

Lex instantly liked the gray-haired man.

"Just call me Lex", she insisted.

The remaining forest rangers also introduced themselves.

Lex was left with a good feeling of all of them. This group could figure out what was going on.

* * *

While the humans were discussing inside, two pairs of invisible eyes were examining the area around the cottages. It seemed like Scar's work had gotten the attention they had wanted. The humans would gather together and come after them, hopefully ready to fight. Even Stealth had to admit that putting the corpse on display had been a good idea. Now they would just wait for the humans to make their first move.

"Neither of us interferes to the other's hunt from now on", Scar insured, still offended by the other hunter's meddling earlier.

Stealth smirked behind his mask.

"Agreed! I'll try to leave one for you".

Scar laughed sarcastically. But before he could answer back, the door to one of the cottages opened.

The predators froze, watching motionlessly as two men stepped outside. Both Scar and Stealth understood the human language, even though Stealth hadn't bothered to learn the difficult pronouncing. They were, however too far to hear what the humans were talking about.

Scar continued were they had left off.

"You just try to stay out of my way, or I might…" The rest of the sentence faded away as Scar suddenly stopped breathing.

During his big talk, he had seen more people coming out, mostly men, but also two women. The shocked predator couldn't take his eyes off of the other woman.

The woman, who he had fought alongside with in his maturity ritual and to whom he had given his combospear as a sign of his… respect, was now standing there. Scar couldn't believe that it really was her. At the same time, he realized another thing. She would soon become their prey.

The sudden change in Scar's behaviour of course didn't go unnoticed by Stealth. The observant warrior could have sworn this was caused by the women that had just come out. He couldn't explain, though, why Scar would have been so interested in them.

Well, maybe for one thing.

Now that he thought about it, his curiosity started to awaken. Stealth tried to imagine what it would feel like to take one of those small, soft-looking human women. The idea kept intriguing him. Perhaps after taking care of the human men, he could satisfy his curiosity without disturbance.

As the other predator was concentrating on his plans, Scar had finally realized that he had reacted too visibly. He could never admit that a measly human had thrown him so off balance. But what could he do? The only solution seemed to be that he would warn her somehow.

For some reason that made him more nervous.

At the moment there was nothing he could do. Scar knew, he would have to meet her when she was alone. After that he would have to see what happens.

* * *

Lex was lost in her thoughts. One body found and they had only just arrived. Sheriff Benson had promised to ask some people to join the search for the next day at the latest, but Antonio had been against it. He didn't want to get outsiders involved in the case, before knowing what they were up against.

Lex had agreed, especially when she already felt responsible for the group.

"Miss Woods?"

Hearing her own name made her snap out of it. Embarrassed, Lex became aware of the fact that the ranger walking next to her was staring at her, a little worried.

"Sorry. I was just pondering".

Keith Weis, 6.5 feet tall and strongly built, nodded sympathetically.

"The whole thing is spine-chilling. But we'll find that sick motherfucker and make sure there won't be anymore victims".

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Lex started, hesitating. "…that there's only one person behind this".

Keith looked at her with a serious face.

"Do you mean that there could be a whole bunch of those assholes out there?"

A shrug was the only answer he got.

The large man turned his eyes to the forest ahead and patted the gun on his waist.

"Well, we have enough firepower to stop any kind of group".

Lex didn't mention that she hated guns.

"Come", Keith motioned. "I'll show you the forest little bit".

"Do you think it's wise to be moving here without the others?"

"Why not?" The man grinned. "Everybody knows, psychos only hunt at nights".

* * *

They didn't seem to get anything done, even though they had had all day. The terrain and the rangers had become more familiar, but the fate of the missing people was still a mystery.

After sunset Lex was sitting in a simply decorated room, in a cottage they had given to her. She was unpacking and sorting the things she would need the next day. Her combospear was placed between two piles.

Lex wasn't sure why she kept carrying it with her everywhere. This time it could come in handy, though.

As answering to her thoughts, something moved outside. Lex grabbed the spear instinctively and sneaked to the window. A lonely figure stood in the dark.

The sight would have been worrying if the figure hadn't been familiar.

Lex tried to remember the name of the man standing outside. He came from Finland so his name wasn't one of the most ordinary. Lauri…something. She was interested in knowing what he was doing out there. It looked like he was just staring at the moon. It might have been so, but Lex was hoping he wouldn't have done that all alone. Not now when they didn't know anything of the danger in the forest.

She hadn't considered that danger could lurk indoors too.

A brief creak of the floor revealed that somebody else had entered the room.

Quickly as a flash, the woman spun around, ready to defend herself if needed.

"Whoa! It's just me!"

Lex calmed down a bit, seeing Antonio in front of her. The man stared at the weapon in her hand enchanted. "where on earth can you find those?!"

Lex was tempted to say that nowhere, since that was the truth, but of course she couldn't reveal that.

"May I take a closer look?" The man asked, eyeing the spear with great interest.

Hesitating for a moment, the woman gave it to him.

Letting out a long whistle Antonio inspected it and tried its weight.

Lex hurried to take it back before he would accidentally extend it and hurt himself. The man looked at her with inscrutable expression.

"Seriously, where did you get that?"

To avoid eye contact, Lex turned her back to the man and continued arranging her stuff. "From a friend".

Realizing that was all she was going to tell, Antonio changed the subject.

If you're not gonna tell me about it, maybe I could hear where you got those scars".

Lex was smiling secretly. Those _were_ also from a friend.

"Did you come here for any special reason?"

The man sighed over-dramatically.

"I get the hint. I just came to tell you suppers ready".

Lex, or her empty stomach, didn't find anything wrong with that.

* * *

After about an hour and a big supper Lex got ready to return to her cottage. Before she left, Antonio gave her a walkie-talkie for quick communicating and a gun, though he had to persuade her for a while. She also got a new, handy belt where to keep them.

As she began to feel more and more tired, Lex was grateful that despite the somewhat ascetic furniture, the bed had been large and soft.

Entering the room she took off the belt and threw it casually on the bed with her other things.

An unexpected metallic sound drew her attention to the bed.

As she took a closer look at her belongings, Lex noticed something that definitely didn't belong to her.

A metal mask, with a very familiar mark in the forehead.

The sight made her blood run cold as the old memories came rushing back. She would've recognized that mask anywhere. The question was, where was its owner?

Remembering well the warrior's ability to turn invisible, Lex didn't feel so safe standing in the middle of the big room. What could she do?

Outside she would be even less safe and she actually didn't want to alarm the others.

"Scar…" The woman tried carefully.

The moment of silence felt like an eternity, but then Lex heard a series of clicks coming from behind her.

Slowly turning around, she faced the suddenly appeared predator.


	5. Reunion

Hahahaa, Lex meets Scar. xD Thank u again and again for commenting and reading, especially OSR4ever, blood shifter, Neferet telias and CJzilla. Btw OSR4ever, write more faster, i can't wait for a new chapter. P

I don't own Lex or Scar, but i can make them do what ever i want. XD

* * *

Lex couldn't have been anymore surprised even if the roof had collapsed on her. She had never believed that she would see the hunter again, but there he was, taller than she had remembered. About 7,5 feet tall Scar was standing right in front of her, forcing the woman to look up to meet his eyes. Except for the obvious growth spurt, the predator was just the same as a year ago.

Amazement was soon followed by the joy of seeing the warrior alive and well. He wasn't wearing all of the armour he had had in Antarctica, so the scar of the nearly lethal wound he had gotten from the alien queen was visible. Without thinking, Lex put her hand against it. Seeing the predator quiver, however made her draw her hand back quickly.

The woman was just about to apologize when Scar also raised his hand and stroked the mark on her cheek.

Lex felt her face blushing.

Apparently the hunter had noticed it, since suddenly he had a peculiar gleam in his eye.

That made Lex blush more, even though she wasn't sure why.

Embarrassed, she moved back, so that Scar had to remove his hand from her face. She could have sworn he did it almost reluctantly. Lex wasn't sure anymore what she was getting herself into.

Then the predator surprised her.

"Lex".

The woman stared at him as if the warrior had just grown wings and taken off.

"Y-you can speak English…"

Scar was quite proud that he had managed to impress the woman.

"I learned", he stated shortly.

Lex sure was surprised. Of course the predator's voice sounded husky, but it was still pretty good from someone whose native language consisted of clicks and other odd sounds. Lex soon overcame her astonishment and cut to the chase, as usual.

"But…why are you here?"

Immediately after asking the question, Lex realized the answer.

"No, don't tell me you…" She took a few steps back, fearing what she would hear. Scar had anticipated this problem, but he hadn't come up with any good way to handle the situation.

"W-wait Lex!" The predator started walking towards her again, at the same time trying to think something to say.

First of all, he should've stayed put.

Lex made a dash for the bed and grabbed the spear for the second time that day already. Only this time she extended it and pointed it to Scar's face.

He had to admit that the woman had guts. They both knew the warrior could easily defeat the weaker human, but Scar didn't want to harm Lex.

But what did he want then?

Scar glanced at the combospear that had once belonged to him. Naturally, he had gotten a new one, which he was now carrying with him.

"Answer me!" Lex demanded loudly. "Are you behind all those disappearances and that… body?"

Lex tried her best to stay calm. However, she couldn't fight the feelings that were tearing her in two. The predator hunted people, so Lex would have to stop him somehow. On the other hand, she really liked Scar, no matter how unbelievable it sounded.

Scar hadn't said anything yet. He was following the woman's inner battle, waiting for her to calm down.

Finally Lex lowered the head of the spear and drew it back in, simultaneously letting out a deep sigh.

"Why did you come to me?"

Scar was confused. At first, the woman had seemed to be happy to see him, but now it was like she wished that she had never even met him.

Slightly hesitating, the predator tried one more time to approach Lex and this time she let him come close. Scar looked her in the eyes and started explaining.

"Me and another warrior hunt here now. You must leave or you will be in danger".

Lex opened her mouth to argue back, but Scar silenced her by grabbing her by the shoulders and bending a little lower so that they were face to face.

"With me you are safe, but Stealth will kill you".

The predator didn't know how stubborn humans, and especially human females, could be.

"No", Lex said with a determined look on her face. "I'm not gonna let you or your friend to hunt these people".

This caused Scar to make a face partly because the woman clearly didn't know what was best for her, partly because she had just called him and Stealth friends.

Knock knock!

Both of them turned to the door completely surprised.

Someone was coming in!

"Waitdon'tcomeyetI'mjustgoingtoshower!!"

Lex yelled the first thing coming to her panicking mind, at the same time pushing Scar ahead of her to a closet. When the door opened, the two of them were jammed in the crammed space and especially the large warrior had to stand uncomfortably hunched.

"You know, I could have cloaked", the predator muttered, but got an angry glare and a shush from Lex.

"Lex?" A wondering voice asked.

Antonio. Again. Right then Lex felt like strangling him.

"Don't just walk in unexpectedly!" The woman scolded, knowing well how funny it must have seemed to find her hiding in a closet.

Like she had guessed, Antonio was laughing his head off.

"What are you so shy about? It's not like I haven't seen you without clothes before".

The man walked to the closet, grinning mischievously.

"I still remember our, hmm… showers. Good memories".

Lex was standing really close to the predator and she could feel his muscles ominously tensing. Evidently she wasn't the only one who felt like strangling Antonio.

Then she realized something more alarming.

Scar's mask was still on the bed.

"Should I get you a towel or something?" The man suggested helpfully.

Lex's towel was also on the bed.

"Not necessary!" She announced very quickly. "I've got my clothes here. You just tell me what ever you came to tell me again".

Antonio noticed the stress on the word 'again'.

"Now that the situation is what it is, it might be better if someone would spend the night here with you".

Lex pointed at Scar's wrist-device and silently mouthed 'cloak'.

Very reluctantly the hunter obeyed and Lex slipped out of the closet.

Antonio pretended to be disappointed. "You got all your clothes, what a shame".

Lex was used to the man's harmless fooling around, but she suspected that Scar wouldn't be as understanding.

Swiftly and decisively she almost dragged the man to the door, making sure that the bed stayed behind them.

"I have a feeling that I'll be alright. Besides, the others aren't far from here".

"Well, if that's the case, then good n…"

"Night!" Lex wished and shoved Antonio out, almost hitting the door on his heels.

After making it through the predicament the woman leaned against the door and sighed deeply.

The sigh turned into a gasp as Scar suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Don't do that!" Lex snapped, trying to keep her voice down.

The predator had an innocent look on his face, but Lex knew that had been a pay back for making him hide in the closet.

The woman took a look behind the door to see that Antonio had really left. When she was sure they were alone, she turned back to Scar.

Already a year ago, Lex had seemed to be able to interpret the predator's expressions and gestures pretty easily, but now Scar had a weird look on his face.

"What's with that face?" Lex asked slightly amused.

"Nothing. Who was that?"

Even though the woman couldn't quite understand the warriors expression, his tense appearance combined with what he had just asked, brought something to her mind.

Lex gave the predator a teasing grin. She walked slowly closer to him and poked him on the chest in a challenging way.

"Are you jealous?"

Scar tilted his head. "I do not know what you mean".

Lex didn't believe that, but kept pressuring him. "You didn't kill me in Antarctica and now you're here to warn me about your hunt. Why?"

The predator found Lex's over-confidence amusing. All the seriousness between them had disappeared after the close call with Antonio and Scar was in a playful mood.

"You are pretty bold for a mere human woman".

To emphasise his superiority he, without warning, spun the woman around and wrapped his arms around her.

"So you want to know, why I keep you alive".

The hunter enjoyed the struggling of his 'prey' for a moment, and then whispered to her ear: "Because you are my pet".

The breath on her neck gave Lex goose bumps. However, she wasn't going to let the predator to have fun at her expense without answering back.

"You shouldn't take a pet you can't tame".

After trying one more time to free herself from the warrior's relentless hold, Lex changed tactics.

"Will you let me go or should I kick you to an unpleasant place?"

This made Scar bark with laughter, or so Lex interpreted the sound she heard.

"Maybe I will let go, if you agree to leave this place".

The woman thought about it for a little while. "Alright".

Scar was relieved to hear that. He freed Lex, who turned around with an innocent smile on her lips.

"I'll leave as soon as I make sure that you change your hunting manners".

Lex nearly laughed out loud seeing the astonished face of the predator. The answer hadn't been exactly what he was waiting for.

The woman rubbed her cheek, hiding her smile and wondered again.

What was she getting herself into?


	6. Meet Stealth?

I was supposed to thank shadowglove too last time, but i forgot. ' It's always a pleasure to read your comments. And thaaank youuu everyone else too of course. D

I'm not sure anymore where this story is going, it has a life of its own now.

I still don't own Lex or Scar.

* * *

Lex let out a long yawn, breathing in the fresh air. Antonio noticed this and raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't sleep well?"

The weather was pretty chilly so Lex put on her gloves.

"Not really. Must've been because of a strange place".

"Probably. I too have that problem sometimes".

The truth was that Lex had spent half of the night debating with Scar about what they should do. Both of them were equally stubborn, though the predator was more hot-headed. That still hadn't intimidated Lex as she just kept answering back firmly.

At one point sparks had been flying when Scar had lost his temper and simply thrown the woman on his shoulder, intending to carry her away from there. That had ended with Lex hitting her head to the edge of the closet.

The following few minutes they had spent in total silence; Lex sitting on the bed, holding a wet towel against her head and Scar sitting next to her, hanging his head in shame. Lex hadn't been able to stay mad for long, seeing how miserable the predator looked.

After talking for some time considerably calmer, they had even developed some kind of a plan. It went without saying that they couldn't tell the truth to Antonio and the others. So Lex had suggested that they would turn to Stealth.

Scar moaned, protesting.

Sure, Lex knew that these hunters would continue to hunt, one way or the other. She just wanted to show them the other way. If that wouldn't work, she could at least try to persuade them to change the area. Lex had begun to consider the predators as a kind of force of nature. They came, demanded their victims and almost nothing could stop them.

Scar had looked at Lex like she had lost her mind when she had told that she wanted to talk to Stealth personally.

"There are easier ways to get yourself killed", the predator had remarked, worried that the crazy woman was really going to carry out her plan.

But his sarcastic comment was ignored. And in any case, the group would enter the woods and eventually come across with either one of the predators. So Lex and Scar had worked on the plan that hopefully would keep everyone alive. Though, Scar had concentrated more on the options that would keep Lex alive.

There weren't many of those if she was determined to meet Stealth.

At last they had gotten the main points settled and the predator had disappeared into the night.

Lex had acted tough, but her dreams had been restless.

* * *

In the morning everyone but Lex were fully awake and ready to start the actual work. The sheriff was there too with his deputy so there were nine of them. In groups of three, they went different ways, agreeing to meet at the caves.

Annie, Mark and Keith followed the river on one side of the forest. The sheriff with his young and impatient assistant and the long-haired Finn took the other side. That left Lex's group with the straightest route.

Lex, Antonio and the very distant ranger, Vincent, formed an incompatible bunch. The first half an hour Antonio kept on talking non-stop. Only after Lex and Vincent both gave him the evil eye, he shut up.

That was all Lex had in common with the ranger. He had revealed to be cold and rude, though he was a little more respectful towards Antonio. Lex hadn't noticed these things when she first had met him, since nothing in his appearance hinted of his personality. Ordinary brown hair, symmetrical face; nothing dramatic that would have fitted his gloomy nature. The only thing sticking out was that he was somewhat shorter than Lex.

They hiked deeper into the forest and even Antonio focused more on observing their surroundings. The groups had communicated occasionally with their walkie-talkies, but nobody had yet seen anything unusual.

Until they stopped to rest in halfway and Vincent noticed something.

"Come and take a look at this".

Lex and Antonio followed the man next to a high pine. Two deep holes, about at chest's height, were visible in the trunk.

Lex had a pretty good idea what had caused them.

Vincent leaned closer to examine the holes.

"There's blood". He turned his eyes to his companions. "We're on the right tracks".

All three of them watched the sight for awhile in silence and for the first time Lex started to have doubts about her plan. The fact that Scar would be with her didn't mean that he could protect her for sure.

And where was the predator now?

Lex tried to look for signs of the warrior's presence, but couldn't find any. She had told Scar about the routes they had planned the previous day, so he knew where they would stop for awhile. The woman just had to trust that the predator had seen them coming and was waiting for her.

Lex cleared her throat. "Let's take a fifteen minute's break and eat something. We're going to need our strength when we get to the caves".

The men sat down around the remains of an old campfire and searched for their lunches. Lex threw her backpack next to Antonio.

"Excuse me, but nature calls".

Antonio watched, concerned, as the woman walked away. "Don't go too far".

"I won't", she assured, though that was exactly what she was going to do.

They were surrounded by thick bushes, so it was easy for Lex to vanish behind them and wander further from the men. It would be much harder to find Scar, since he was most likely cloaked.

After getting far enough, Lex started calling the predator. She began to get anxious, until a sudden movement got her attention.

* * *

Scar was slightly late, but luckily the woman hadn't left yet. There she was standing, looking so helpless and frail in the middle of the vast forest. Scar knew he wanted to protect her. And more. He wanted the human woman to himself in every way. Watching her just made those feelings grow stronger, almost too strong to keep at bay.

The predator managed to take one step before the world turned into slow-motion in his eyes.

Stealth was approaching Lex with exposed wristblades ready to strike. Scar tried to warn the woman, but the words didn't come out. He searched for his throwing disk, which had however, disappeared, as well as all the rest of his weapons. The whole forest was spinning sickly, preventing Scar from moving.

Lastly, before falling down, the predator saw Lex quiver as the blades impaled her stomach.

The horrible vision woke the warrior from his dream.

Confused, Scar checked his equipment and found everything to be in order. Lex hadn't been hurt after all. The predator felt greatly relieved. Stealth hadn't…

…Stealth wasn't in the cave anymore.

Realizing that made Scar jump up. What if the dream had been a warning and Lex was in danger?

Running as fast as he could in the narrow caves, the predator searched and cursed Stealth furiously.

They were supposed to begin the hunt simultaneously. Scar had even told him that he had something important to show before they would go their separate ways.

What was that arrogant bastard thinking?

Scar could only hope that he hadn't slept too long.

* * *

"Scar", Lex called again, irritability in her voice. "Stop this hide-and-seek, I'm not in the mood right now. I can explain my absence to the others somehow, but I still don't want to worry them any longer than I have to".

Lex detected another movement from a distance and this time she could distinguish the place where the predator was standing, even though just barely.

"Will you uncloak or are you thinking of carrying me away again?"

The woman waited for an answer, but didn't get any. The silent figure just stood there, appearing to be almost confused.

A bad feeling crept into Lex's mind. "Scar?"

With her heart pounding rapidly she thought of running as the huge creature started coming closer. Mustering up her willpower the woman stood her ground.

The predator stopped a few feet away from Lex, both of them clearly waiting for the other one's first reaction.

Doing her best to keep her voice steady, Lex tried the name Scar had mentioned before.

"Are you… Stealth?"

She heard a couple of beeps and finally the hunter showed himself. He definitely wasn't Scar.

Lex took a step back.

This predator had a more angular mask, his armour was light, like Scar's, but with different design.

At first, however, she noticed the revealed wristblades that rested on the warrior's side.

At least for now.

Lex knew from experience how strong Scar was and she didn't doubt for a minute that the predator in front of her was any weaker. Running away wasn't an option anymore, so Lex decided to go with negotiating.

She raised her hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Please listen to what I have to say".

That was all she got to say, when Stealth suddenly snarled and grabbed her forcefully by the throat, drawing the woman closer to him.

Lex was certain she was going to die. The grip wasn't so tight that she couldn't have breathed, but there was no hope of getting away.

Closing her eyes, she prepared to receive the final blow.

It never came.

Instead, Lex felt a light touch on her face.

She opened her eyes and realized that the predator had seen the mark on her cheek. The woman wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Lex couldn't see it, but Stealth's eyes were widened with surprise.

"Wheerre… did you… get that… hhuuman?"

The cold, rasping voice sounded even more unnatural than Scar's. Still it was music to her ears, since it meant that the warrior probably wasn't going to kill her, at least not yet.

"Could you loosen the grip a little first?"

Lex knew that she was in no position to be making demands, but standing on her toes was getting uncomfortable.

Stealth had something else on his mind, however.

He let go of the woman's throat only to move his hand to the nape of her neck. Lex wasn't sure what to think of this, but then the predator's next move made his intentions pretty clear.

With his other hand Stealth slid his blades under the woman's coat, feeling her holding her breath.

Then, using brute force, the hunter ripped the front of Lex's coat open.

His curiosity had just awoken.

Lex started shivering, not believing what was happening when she felt the large hand of the predator caressing her neck, while the other hand was now wandering down her waist.

She wanted to scream and fight back, but was too shocked to move. She was completely helpless and they both knew it.

_Scar… Antonio… anybody… help!_

Stealth was getting really interested in the woman's body. But as he pinned her roughly against a tree, two voices echoed through the air.

"Lex!!" A sharp yell came from one direction and right after that, an infuriated roar from another.


	7. Technical difficulties

I'm glad that everyone seemed to like the previous chapter, though i ended it pretty badly. ' Thank u for the many entertaining comments. D

Elunara, i can imagine that dream of yours, i'll have to try to get that kind of a scene here somewhere, i you don't mind.

And shadowglove i'm not quite sure yet what the hunter's mark exactly means in Lex's situation, but it'll probably come up in the next chapter. Btw, that comment of Lex being catnip to predators was hilarious. lol

I don't own you-know-who.

* * *

Stealth had concentrated too much on playing with the human female and was completely surprised by the disturbance. The weak humans with their pathetic weapons didn't concern him, though. They were only a minor nuisance and would probably run away if he just turned his gaze to them.

Stealth was still facing the woman when he felt a sting in his bare side. The hunter looked in disbelief at a small syringe that had emptied its contents into his blood circulation.

A tranquilizer gun?

Starting to get irritated, Stealth turned to look at the two men. How dared these lowly beings think they could stop him like this?

* * *

Scar was angry. And afraid.

A feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time; not since his father had taken him to his first hunt. Scar had seen his first alien and for the first and only time in his life he had frozen in fear. That had almost cost his father's life as he had had to rush to his son's aid. That kind of a mistake was unforgivable even if he had practically been only a pup then. After that Scar had sworn he would never again give in to fear.

But still, seeing Stealth hold the much smaller Lex against a tree, made the unpleasant feeling come back.

Scar was afraid of losing her.

* * *

Lex had snapped out of her shock when she had heard the voices. The predator held her tightly at place, but she could still move her hands.

She could maybe even get the switchblade from her pocket.

Suddenly Stealth startled and turned growling towards the approaching humans that had just shot him. Lex had heard the gunshot, but wasn't sure if it had damaged the hunter or only pissed him off. She was a little offended that the men had fired at the predator even though she was standing right next to him.

Anyhow, Lex couldn't afford to waste her chance by trying to figure out the men's way of thinking. With one swift move the woman drew out the knife, ready to stick it to the arm that was holding her.

It might have worked, if Stealth hadn't been in full battle-readiness again.

A powerful swing to the side of her head threw Lex to the ground. Her knife was lost, but she didn't have time to worry about that as she tried to stop the world from spinning.

The humans had stopped in a relatively safe distance and one of them fired again, this time hitting Stealth's lower back.

These humans' aim was too good.

The tranquilizer didn't seem to affect the predator, but just having been surprised like that was humiliating. And he wasn't going to let them get away with that.

Casting a malicious look to the men, the hunter cloaked and took out his throwing disk.

* * *

Scar charged towards Stealth, willing to attack his fellow hunter if he wouldn't release Lex. A deed that would most likely get him banished and marked as a bad blood. Even when consumed with mixed emotions the warrior realized the gravity of what he was about to do. Nevertheless, he would do it without hesitation.

Scar had also seen the human males with their guns ready. Like Stealth, he too hardly paid attention to them, especially since he was cloaked. He glanced at them just in time to see the taller man fire the first shot.

Scar was surprised to see Stealth getting hit. Usually he moved fast enough to evade all the humans' attacks. That seemed to have awaken Stealth, though, as he turned to the humans, holding Lex only with a forearm on her chest. Scar started to believe that if he had wanted to kill her, he would have done it already. He hadn't seen much about what had been going on from behind Stealth's back, but he was pretty sure Stealth had just been scaring the woman for his own amusement, like he often did with humans.

That alone was enough to make Scar want to punch his lights out, but it _probably_ wouldn't have been worth the trouble that would follow.

Scar slowed down, curious to see what would happen next. At the same time he scanned the two men's equipment.

The predator frowned. Lex had explained to him that they had prepared only for a simple hike and cave climbing.

Then why were those men carrying enough weapons for a small army?

Scar pondered this as the shorter man seemed to be digging something from his backpack.

A sudden intuition made him turn his attention back to Lex.

Was the woman **insane**?!

Once again the predator had to admire the courage of the little human female as she tried to stab a small knife into her captor's arm.

Brave, but foolish.

Scar felt his anger rising again when Stealth struck the disturbing woman to the ground. He almost shouted at the other hunter to keep his filthy claws off of his woman, but controlled himself.

He was so worked-up that didn't even notice he had thought of Lex as 'his woman'.

The other man used the diversion and Scar smiled condescendingly seeing another shot hitting Stealth in the lower back. Maybe the humans would take care of pay back for him. They seemed to be skilful warriors, at least judging from their accurate aim and cool behaviour. Normally people tried to run away from them, terrified, but these humans were actually attacking.

Scar knew they would be in trouble when their adversary would start his counterattack, but for now he was enjoying Stealth's humiliation.

Of course he was simultaneously observing Lex's condition, still ready to charge to her rescue if the situation would change. The woman was, however, so dazed that Stealth shouldn't have any reason to pay attention to her anymore.

Scar could go get Lex out of there while Stealth would finish the men off. He sighed, giving up the idea of beating the hell out of his comrade for hurting Lex.

Somewhat pleased the predator followed Stealth with his eyes as he disappeared from the humans' sight and started to circle around them with his big throwing disk in his hand. Pleased because he had recognized the other human to be the man who he had caught a glimpse of from the closet in Lex's room.

Scar was looking forward for the man to meet his end.

Meanwhile the other human had gotten his hands on some device and was pushing the buttons frantically, clearly worried of the predator's sudden disappearance. There was nothing that could have stopped Stealth's attack anymore. The warrior swung his hand back and threw the weapon towards the humans.

Right then Scar lost his sight.

Or to be more precise, his mask stopped working. The predator couldn't make out anything, but blended, wavering colours. Feeling a little nauseous he hurried to detach the faulty mask.

Being able to see again, Scar instantly realized that the mask wasn't the only problem. His wristdevice was sparkling and making crackling noises. Nothing was working, including his cloaking system.

A quick look at Stealth revealed that he was in the same situation.

The shorter human was on his knees holding his bleeding shoulder. Apparently Stealth's wristdevice had broken just when he was throwing, affecting his aim.

A moment of confused silence floated in the air; then both men raised their arms, firing simultaneously. This time Stealth staggered visibly.

Scar truly couldn't stand his fellow hunter, but he knew he couldn't let him end up in the hands of the humans. They hadn't yet noticed him and a couple of shots from his shoulder gun would have ended the battle easily. It was a pity that it didn't work without the wristcomputer.

Scar was extremely irritated. Who were those men and how the hell was it possible for them to have devices that could mess up the hunters' technology?

"Scar…"

A faint voice called, reminding the warrior of something more important.

Lex was trying to sit up after managing to focus her eyes to the predator. Scar forgot everything else and strode next to the woman. Unbelievably, she was giving him a lecturing smile.

"You're late, my knight in shining armour".

Now Scar was sure that Lex had hurt her head.

Carefully the large warrior picked the woman up into his arms and examined her. At least she didn't have any external wounds. The torn coat and a lump on her head seemed to be the only damages. Scar smiled back at the woman.

"Did I not tell you that talking to Stealth would be a bad idea?"

Lex's smile vanished and she turned her eyes to the ground. The sudden change made the predator worry.

"Did I say something wrong? Did Stealth hurt you somewhere else?"

Lex said nothing and didn't raise her eyes, but the hunter saw a single tear glittering in the corner of her eye. Scar drew the woman tighter against his chest, trying to comfort her.

What had happened?

The predator searched for Stealth, realizing he had forgotten all about his situation. Surprisingly, he or the humans were nowhere to be seen.

Scar considered his top priority to be getting Lex somewhere to rest. And he had to fix his wristdevice. Stealth would have to make it on his own for now, since he was the one who had wanted to sneak on a hunt alone in the first place.

Moving the woman to a better position, Scar turned back to where he had come from.

* * *

The caves were already pretty close and there had been no signs of Stealth or the humans. Lex felt a little better except for a terrible headache.

"I could walk by myself now".

Scar knew that. He just liked carrying the woman in his arms.

"You just rest. We are almost at the caves".

Lex glanced at the predator suspiciously, guessing his real motives. But why complain? She couldn't remember when was the last time she had felt as safe as in the protection of those strong arms. The woman watched, deep in thought as the dreadlocks swung back and forth on the warrior's broad shoulders.

The predator was attractive in a certain way.

Tall and muscular body of course had something to do with it, but Lex saw so much more in him. The face that at first seemed fierce, contained so many humane expressions that could most clearly be seen from his eyes.

Finally Scar sensed that the woman had been staring at him. He looked at her curiously.

"What are you thinking?"

Lex startled and hoped that her face hadn't turned red.

"Nothing special".

The predator chuckled, not believing her.

"You were thinking of me, were you not?"

Now Lex was desperately aware of her face changing colour. She turned her head defiantly.

"I was just hoping you won't hit my head anywhere this time. I think I've gotten enough lumps on my head for a while".

They continued to argue playfully the rest of the way to the caves, where Scar at last agreed to let the woman down. The predator then led Lex in front of one of the caves.

"Watch your steps", he warned the woman. "There's no light ahead".

Lex was hoping that she hadn't left her stuff with the men, but she trusted Scar to guide her. Like he had said, light couldn't get in the deeper caves and soon it was completely dark. Only a dim glow came from Lex's wristcompass.

After she had tripped a couple of times, Scar stopped and grabbed her hand. The journey continued, but little by little the endless darkness started getting on the woman's nerves. She squeezed the hunter's hand tighter. Scar understood her worry.

"There is light enough for you to see in the main cave".

Lex relaxed a bit when they got there. A large crack in the ceiling led all the way to the surface, providing the cave with a soft lighting. Scar sat down on a rock, trying to figure out how to fix his wristdevice. He only managed to get out more sparks and random beeps. Then he remembered something and clicked a few curses.

Lex walked beside the warrior, ignoring the skulls she had just seen in one corner.

"What is it?"

"I left my mask in the woods". Scar recalled that he had left it on the ground when picking the woman up.

"I should go find it after we meet with Stealth".

As Scar got back to fixing the device, Lex realized something herself.

"By the way… what happened back there? To Antonio and Stealth, I mean".

The predator stopped working and cocked his head.

That's' right, she hadn't seen anything after she got hit by Stealth.

But before Scar had time to explain, he froze, eyes focused to the entrance.

"He's coming".

Lex turned around to the still empty entrance, nearly panicking. She wasn't yet ready to meet that hunter again. What if he would try something like before?

Scar got up and stepped in front of the woman so that she wouldn't be seen right away. The warrior didn't say anything, but Lex read the words from his eyes.

Scar wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her.

* * *

That's the chapter. Don't be too disappointed that Scar didn't kick Stealth's butt... yet. ;) 


	8. A hidden purpose

Hi and thank u everyone for continuing to read this story. :D Sorry that there's not happening much in this chapter, but just wait for the next one. xD

From now on there are sloping letters when the predators are speaking in their own tongue.

* * *

Scar stood motionless as Lex was hiding behind him, gathering her courage. Both of them heard the approaching footsteps in the otherwise silent surroundings, but only Scar noticed something out of the ordinary.

Mainly the fact that they were able to hear them.

It certainly wasn't like Stealth to reveal his presence like that. Something was wrong. Either the predator had been badly injured or the substance in his blood had taken effect. Scar hoped he would be right, since the situation would be better for Lex if Stealth wasn't in full strength.

Lex was shivering, not knowing whether it was because of fear or the cold air. Probably both. She peeked from behind Scar, but pulled her head quickly back. All the thoroughly considered arguments vanished into thin air as a tall figure walked in to the cave, only a few steps away from them. Now it was too late to back out.

Scar examined the warrior for signs of possible injuries. Stealth didn't have his mask on either so Scar could distinguish the weariness on his face.

"_What happened to you_?" He inquired in his own language. "_Did you run into an alien hive on the way?"_

Appearing to be quite tired, the predator cast a menacing look, warning the other warrior not to continue with the same tone if he wanted to keep his mandibles intact.

Normally Scar would have loved to keep on scoffing, but now he had to consider what was best for the woman. Lex hardly would want to show herself to a hunter that was twice her size and ready to rip off the head of the first passerby. Scar got serious.

"_Are you hurt?"_

Half-conscious or not, Stealth knew something was wrong if **Scar** pretended to be worried of him. When he took a closer look, he knew what it was.

An extra pair of legs was sticking out behind the predator.

Stealth stepped closer to Scar, moving slowly to prevent from staggering.

"_What are you hiding?"_

Lex couldn't understand the predators' language, but her heart started pounding faster when she heard another clicking noise coming from nearby. She hadn't been seen yet, had she?

Stealth hadn't confused Scar with his direct question, since Scar was used to not being able to hide anything from the attentive warrior.

"_Do you remember what I said to you before you took off without informing me? I told you that I had something to show you before we would go on the hunt."_

Stealth hadn't forgotten that. He had just intentionally ignored it.

"_What are you trying to say?"_

Scar took a deep breath, preparing for the worst. He stepped aside.

Lex breathed in loudly as the only protection between her and the hunter that had harassed her suddenly disappeared. She didn't even dare to blink, let alone to say anything.

It seemed, though, that Stealth had lost his words too. The predator stared at the woman and especially at the mark on her cheek. He had been planning on questioning her about it after toying with her enough. Assuming, of course, that the woman would have still been able to answer him after he would have been done with her.

Scar noticed the unpleasant silence continuing and he didn't like Stealth's look that had changed from amazed to calculating. Now it would be a good time to carry out the part of the plan that would ensure Lex's survival. The part he hadn't told her about and for a good reason.

"_That woman is mine, so forget whatever it is you're thinking right now!" _Scar growled, lifting his arm in front of Lex possessively.

"_Yours?" _Stealth tilted his head. _"Do you mean she's your slave? Perhaps a way of passing time during long nights."_

Scar was truly glad that Lex couldn't understand what they were talking about her. Still, it took a while for him to manage to nod in response. It would be the easiest explanation and Lex wouldn't have to know about it. If Scar declared the woman as his property, others would leave her be.

The predator pondered for a moment what he had just thought. Others? He had really, for a short time, thought of taking Lex with him to his home planet. Was that what he wanted? An image of the woman as his personal servant came into Scar's mind, but he pushed it quickly away, shamed of himself. He would never treat Lex like that.

Stealth changed the subject to something that had been interesting him.

"_How come she's bearing the mark of a hunter?"_

A welcome change of subject in Scar's opinion.

"_This human was there during my bloodening. I saw her kill two aliens and she even fought the queen with me. Remarkable courage from her species."_

That managed to get an approving nod from Stealth. The woman's previous attempt to hurt him, even though he was clearly stronger, came to his mind.

Scar continued:

"_I wanted her to myself back then already, but I was injured too badly to bring it up with the elders. I had, however, given her our mark, partly as a reward for her bravery, partly so that she would be more easily accepted among our kind."_

Everything Scar said, could have been true, except of course for the slave-part. If the queen's attack hadn't interrupted him and if he only could had spoken the human language he just might had asked the woman to come with him. Now he had gotten a second chance and seeing that at least Stealth wasn't protesting against his idea, Scar decided to talk to Lex about it later. He would still, though, have to let the woman tell her proposition without raising suspicions.

Stealth was again sizing the woman up, this time serious.

"_What do you call her?"_

Scar lowered his protecting arm finally.

"_Her name's Lex. And don't be confused if she calls me Scar. That's what she called me the last time I was here and I haven't bothered to correct her."_

The atmosphere didn't seem as pressuring anymore so Lex was able to relax a bit. Then suddenly some sort of laughter came from Stealth's mouth, startling the woman. In addition to that, she felt offended for some reason, as if she had been made fun of.

"_How cute"_, the predator mocked. _"But befitting, no doubt."_

Stealth eyed the impressive scar on the warrior's abdomen.

Lex began to get tired of listening to the constant clicking that she couldn't understand. She touched Scar's hand lightly to get his attention. Both predators turned their eyes to her.

The woman suppressed her want to swallow loudly.

"_Could somebody explain the situation to me too?"_

Scar supposed that it would be a good time to let Lex take part in the conversation.

"_She wants to talk to you, by the way."_

Stealth was astounded by this. Until then, the woman had only taken a few timid glances at him.

"_She __may speak, but I'm not speaking her language."_

Lex looked at Scar with a wondering face. He didn't say anything to her yet, but continued to talk to Stealth.

"_In exchange for following me __voluntarily I agreed to let her make a suggestion that, according to her, concerns us both. So listen to what she has to say."_

Then Scar turned back to Lex, finally speaking English.

"Your turn now. I'll translate his answers for you."

The woman nearly panicked again, but being constantly afraid had started to make her frustrated with herself. It wasn't her nature to be the damsel in distress, scared and helpless. Lex met Stealth's piercing gaze without blinking.

"You spoke English before, why not now?"

Scar and Stealth noted the change in the woman. She was standing straight and there was no hesitation in her eyes nor voice.

Stealth liked this side of the woman. He even decided to please her by answering in her language after all.

"So you… do have… some guts."

The predator was speaking more clearly now. Apparently their kind were fast learners.

"No wonder… he wants you… as his whore."

Immediately after the last word, Scar blew his top. He shoved the surprised Stealth into the wall hard enough to drop him on one knee. Infuriated, Scar grabbed him by the front of his armour and slammed him against the wall again, this time holding him on his feet.

"_Don't ever… call her that in front of me!"_

Lex was speechless. What had he just said? Was the predator trying to play games with her? There was no way Scar would've… Something came into Lex's mind. Their cultures were completely different. Maybe Scar had understood something wrong.

Stealth wasn't fighting against Scar. He knew that it would only make the warrior more angry and he was in no condition to be fighting.

"_Aren't we a little sensitive about the slave. What does she really mean to you?"_

The indirect accusation left Scar quiet. If the elders would find out that he was too attached to a human female, Lex would most likely be killed.

"_I simply don't like somebody talking like that about my __property."_

The two warriors glared at each other as Scar slowly let go. Stealth was breathing heavily and looked like he could've fallen down any minute now. Unexpectedly Lex walked to them.

"Is something wrong with him?"

Scar tried to find signs of anger or confusion or any kind of reaction to what Stealth had said, but the woman's face was blank. The hunter felt extremely uneasy.

"Do not mind him or what he says, he got hit too many times by those tranquilizer darts and is quite groggy still."

Scar had automatically assumed that Stealth had killed the troublesome humans before returning to the caves, but seeing the warrior in such a weakened state made him think again. Was it possible that Stealth had had to flee from the battle?

Lex had a thoughtful expression.

"I'm glad that they decided not to use real guns as I first thought they would, but I wonder why they didn't tell me about it."

Stealth snorted sarcastically and stepped closer to the woman, while Scar was watching his every movement closely.

"_Is she simpleminded or something?"_

Scar resisted the urge to wham the shameless predator to the wall one more time.

"_She couldn't see what was happening if you remember."_

Stealth sneered briefly. _"Oh, that's right."_

Lex was getting really pissed off, having been left out of the discussion again.

"Could you **please, **at last tell me what the hell is going on here!"

Scar lifted his arm to show Lex his wristdevice. "Those friends of yours possess equipment that can mess up all our technical devices. Also, just the two of them had a large amount of weapons and explosives."

The woman stared at the serious face of the predator, while her mind was fighting to comprehend what she had heard.

"Lex, whatever they are doing here, they are not searching for missing people."


	9. Out of the frying pan and into the fire

Whew, finally got this done. I'm a slow writer so it takes me about four days to write the chapter, two days to translate it and then one day to finally get it on the computer. This chapter is mainly written at night, so it might get a little weird from time to time. I don't know really, I'm too tired to read this again after I get it finished. :p

But thank you again for the awesome comments, you're the best. xD

I stiiill don't own Lex or Scar.

* * *

"I don't believe it…" Lex whispered, not knowing what to think. "There has to be a perfectly good explanation for this."

Stealth said something and Scar translated:

"It looks like they came prepared just for us."

"But that's not possible!"

Scar raised an eye ridge and his mandibles twitched in amusement.

"For a human who is having a conversation with two alien hunters from a strange planet, you judge pretty easily what is possible and what is not."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Lex would have laughed at herself.

"I have to get to the bottom of this", she announced; ready to spurt out of the cave to look for the others.

Scar put his hand on the woman's shoulder to prevent her from leaving yet. A gentle, but firm grip convinced her to wait and listen for a moment.

"You don't even know if they are still alive."

That was one possibility Lex hadn't thought of. She couldn't bear to do that. Sure, Antonio was a pain in the butt sometimes, but she knew that he didn't deserve a fate like that.

Stealth had apparently lost interest in listening to the strange woman. It didn't concern him what a slave thought. Still staggering like in a bad hang-over, the predator shuffled further into the cave and slumped onto a block of stone. There he started to examine the non-functioning wristdevice, like Scar had done before. Fixing it proved to be impossible, since Stealth couldn't get a hold of his tools. The tranquilizers hadn't managed to knock him out, but they were affecting his movements and hand coordination.

Those two would definitely pay for this humiliation.

Lex shook the hand off of her shoulder and marched straight in front of Stealth, feeling much braver now that the life of her friend was in question.

"What did you do to them?"

Concentrating on getting his fingers move like they were supposed to, the predator paid little attention to the woman.

"_Nothing I would have wanted to do."_

From this Scar knew he had been right. Stealth had been forced to flee.

"They are alive", he stated to Lex who sighed in relief.

The warrior couldn't stop a gloomy look from appearing on his face. What was so great about that human male that made her worry about him so much? Scar didn't pause to think that Lex hadn't even mentioned the man. He just knew she was thinking of him.

The woman headed towards the exit again and this time no one tried to stop her. She did notice Scar's sulky expression, but had no time to ponder its cause.

"Are you coming with me or should I try to find my way out of here by myself?"

Of course Scar would go with her. He wouldn't let the woman go anywhere near that suspicious creep alone. Without much delicacy the hunter caught Lex's hand in his own and started to lug her into the dark passage.

"_How __do you know she's not working with those other humans?"_

Stealth's question made Scar stop so suddenly that the woman bumped into him.

"_How do you know that your dear slave isn't leading you right into a trap?"_

The following silence was like ice, even Lex could sense it, even though she once again had no clue what had been said. She was pretty sure Stealth hadn't just wished them good luck.

"Come", Scar said briefly and continued forward, leaving his thoughts a mystery to the woman.

* * *

The journey through the darkness wasn't any easier the second time. The behaviour of the quiet predator made Lex more nervous than the lack of light. On top of that, he was moving too fast for her. After hanging on for a while, doing her best not to fall over, the woman had enough and snatched her hand back.

"That's it" What wrong with you?"

Scar had been lost in thought when Lex had stopped unannounced.

"Nothing", the predator mumbled and took the woman's hand again.

And again Lex fought back.

"You said the same thing back in the cottage. Now tell me what is it."

This strong-minded side of the woman was equally as bothersome as intriguing in Scar's opinion. Though, right then it was mostly bothersome. Why did she have to be so stubborn about these things?

If Lex hadn't felt the predator's large hand around her wrist, she would have feared that he had left her alone; the silence was so overflowing. She wished she could have seen Scar and been able to interpret his body language. That seemed to be the only way to get something sensible out of the warrior.

"Have I said or done something wrong?" The woman inquired.

"No", Scar finally said and hoped that Lex wouldn't have the energy to continue on the topic if he didn't give her proper answers.

Fat chance and he knew it.

"Well, if I'm not the cause of your bad mood then who is? Stealth? Don't tell me that it's Antonio. You obviously have something against him, I just can't understand what."

No reply. The woman sighed. This could go on forever.

"I can be just as stubborn as you, so don't think I'm going to give in before youu…"

Lex was interrupted in the middle of the sentence. Scar had unexpectedly yanked her closer to himself and placed his finger on her lips.

Since words wouldn't have done any good, the predator had decided to do something that was guaranteed to shut her mouth.

The woman's lips felt enchantingly soft against his finger, as well as her body that was leaning lightly against his. Scar let out a purring sound, starting to get more and more aroused. Slowly the hunter moved his hands on the woman's hips and pulled her tighter against him, almost unable to control his desire to throw her on the ground and take her right there.

Lex could hardly breathe. The predator had held her in his arms the previous night in the cottage, but this wasn't the same. Then he had only been teasing her, but now…

His other hand was moving, feeling her curves under the cloths, approaching her privates…

She couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop!" The woman gasped in panic, sounding so anxious that Scar snapped out of his excited state of mind and let go of her.

Lex knew she had probably offended the hunter, but she couldn't withstand a touch that intimate in that darkness, not seeing who was standing in front of her. Scar's hands, body, even scent were too similar to Stealth's.

"We should get going", Lex half-whispered, her eyes fixed to the ground.

Scar was bewildered. Where had that fear come from? Surely the woman must've known that he would have never hurt her or forced her to do something she didn't want to do. No matter how tempting it would have been. The predator was actually quite surprised how strongly he had wanted her.

Lex continued to walk forward, feeling her way blindly.

"Sorry."

The single word stopped her instantly. As the hunter followed her and passed her by without taking her hand, the woman hated herself.

Scar wasn't the one who needed to apologize; she was. Besides, if the situation hadn't been what it was… well, she wasn't sure what she would have done.

"Wait, Scar!" Lex cried out and rushed after the warrior, although she couldn't see where he was.

"What?"

Using the voice to locate the predator, the woman tried to search for his hand. She felt metal under her fingers. Probably the wristdevice. Lex slid her fingers downwards to find the hand.

"I'm the one that should be apologiz…" She froze, feeling something unexpected.

"Umm… Lex", Scar started with a tense tone. "If you are looking for my hand, it is not there."

The woman pulled her hand back, her face as red as a tomato.

"I-I… didn't… s-sorry…" she stuttered until the hunter burst out laughing.

"You should see the look on your face right now."

Lex tried to hide her face behind her hand, but couldn't help but to laugh too.

"If I could see something, this wouldn't have happened in the first place."

"Don't worry, I didn't mind."

Lex punched the impish predator, luckily for him, hitting him on the arm this time.

"Pervert."

Chuckling to himself Scar let the woman getoff easily and gently grabbed her hand.

"Should we get going then?"

And so the earlier argument was forgotten.

* * *

"Thank goodness for light!" Lex yelled greatly relieved as the entrance appeared in front of them. She hurried, eager to leave the darkness behind. Outside a cool gust of wind hit her, getting her hair all tangled, but that too was a welcome change to the stuffy cave air. The predator walked beside the woman, enjoying the fresh air as much as her.

Lex shut her eyes and turned her face to the sun that still provided some warmth, even though it was almost winter.

"You won't get me to return there anymore, no matter what."

"**Look out!**" Scar scared the woman by shouting suddenly and pushing her to the ground.

What the hell! Lex looked up and saw the hunter getting hit by the all too familiar tranquilizer darts. Unlike with Stealth, these darts affected instantly.

"Scar!" The woman stumbled to her feet and ran to support the warrior who had fallen to his knees. She wasn't strong enough and Scar fell on his side, losing consciousness almost immediately.

"Alexa Woods! You're just the person I was looking for!"

Lex took her eyes off the hunter's face and saw that everyone was there.

"Antonio…" The woman didn't know what to do. Was it true what the predators had told or did those people think they had just saved her from some monster?

"Well aimed Vincent and Keith. It sure paid off to increase the dose. We got it down much easier this time."

The shock was showing on Lex's face as she stared at the man that she had thought to know so well.

"What's going on in here?"

Antonio walked to the unconscious predator and the woman who was crouching by his side. He man knelt down next to Lex and smiled calmingly.

"Are you alright?" I was so worried when we couldn't find you after the attack. It was fortunate that we had put trackers in everyone's new utility belts, otherwise we wouldn't have found you here."

Antonio rubbed his cheek, looking embarrassed.

"I guess I forgot to tell you about it."

Lex couldn't believe what she was hearing. She saw right true that fake smile and excuses. 

"You knew… from the beginning. You lied to me. What did you even need me for when you already had this group of yours?"

"Lex, Lex, Lex…" the dark-haired man tried to calm her down. "I was gonna tell you in time, but you proved to be a special case. I knew you had encountered these things in Antarctica, but I was surprised to see those little gifts they gave you."

He was talking about the spear and the mark of course.

Feeling light-headed Lex fought to get her thoughts in order, which was hard when she had a thousand questions in her mind. How did he know about Antarctica?

Antonio grabbed her by the shoulders, focusing his gaze to her.

"I know you have a lot of questions you want to ask, but there's something I want to know also. Why did you rush to help this creature? You even called it by some name."

Lex was irritated by the man's way of talking about 'it'. And she wasn't sure what to say. She... liked him very much? They would send her to a nuthouse if she said that.

Antonio continued:

"And didn't it just attack you?"

This made the woman lose her temper.

"He isn't th…" At the last moment she closed her mouth, realizing what the man had said. Hadn't they noticed that there were two predators?

"He isn't… that bad, believe me", Lex corrected quickly.

Antonio shook his head, obviously not believing this.

"I don't know everything you've been through, but 'he' and his kind hunt and kill people for fun. How can you be okay with that?"

The man got up and nodded to the others. Right away they started to take out parts that soon put together formed a sturdy-looking stretcher.

Lex was getting worried.

"What are you going to do to him?"

"We'll take it to a nearby lab for preparatory examination."

Examination?

The stretcher was set next to Scar. With the help of so many people it wouldn't be a problem to get him out of the forest.

Now Lex was panicking.

She clung onto the predator's arm as some of the men came to lift him.

"NO! Wait!" The woman screamed desperately, her mind racing to find words that would help.

Vincent glanced at Antonio, waiting for instructions. "We don't have time for this."

Antonio sighed deeply before speaking.

"I would have explained everything to you on the way back, but it might be best that you didn't come with us after all. I'm sorry Lex."

The woman reacted too slowly and got a hard hit to the back of her head. As the darkness inevitably engulfed her, one last thought lingered in her mind.

Scar… I won't… let… them…

…


	10. A plea for help

Thank you for readind and bearing all the previous stupid cliffhangers. I'll try to cut down on them. Really.

Sorry, no Scar in this chapter. But much Stealth and his mischievous behaviour. Mwahahaa... Oh, and a little more swearing than usually.

* * *

Regaining consciousness was no picnic for Lex

Regaining consciousness was no picnic for Lex. The first thing she became aware of was that her head had once again received a painful blow. Then everything came back to her still numb mind in one rush.

"Scar!" Lex gasped and lifted her head to look around.

Straight away she groaned in pain and gave up the idea of moving. A wave of nausea prevented any kind of thinking for a seemingly long moment.

After recovering a little the woman dared to try the same again, this time much slower. She couldn't see any traces of Scar or the humans. The sun was still approximately at the same height so she couldn't have been out for too long.

Despair primarily in her mind, Lex forced herself to ignore the pressuring throb inside her head and sat up. Tears escaped from the corners of her eyes despite her effort to hold them back. All the tension that had built up that day, erupted finally as shivering sobs. Lex couldn't fight back anymore and so let all the bottled up emotions flow out with the tears.

Afterwards her head was throbbing even more, but at least she felt capable of thinking clearly. Scar was in trouble and she was the only one who could help him.

Well, not actually the only one.

The cave behind Lex was forbidding, especially now that she knew who was waiting there.

There just had to be another way.

The woman's gaze hit a nearby rock, where she was surprised to see her backpack. Pulling herself to her feet she took a couple tentative steps and noticed that she was able to walk. How nice of Antonio to return her things. She could thank him later by kicking him in the balls or doing something equally nice.

Lex sat down on the cold rock and started to go through the pack to make sure nothing was missing. The most precious thing she found immediately. The combispear was safely wrapped inside of a thick cloth that prevented it from poking holes in the pack. It was a miracle that the man hadn't taken it. Then again, why would he have wanted it now that they had Scar.

Next she found her lunch box which reminded her just how hungry she had gotten. Even though guilt gnawed at the back of her mind, it was obvious she couldn't help anybody with an empty stomach.

Lex ate quickly, at the same time weighing her options. She came to the conclusion that she had none. Nobody else could help her and the thought of finding and intruding some hidden laboratory alone seemed like a really bad idea. So did asking for help from Stealth, but she hoped that despite of the differences of the two warriors they couldn't leave a comrade to the hands of the humans. Lex had no clue what Scar had said to get Stealth to leave her in peace, but she was sincerely hoping that it would still work.

The woman took her flashlight from the pack and after considering for a while, the combispear too. If things would turn ugly, she wanted to be able to defend herself this time. In Stealth's current condition she was pretty confident that she could hold her own.

Feeling as ready as she possibly could, Lex left her backpack partly open and put the spear back in it so that it was sticking out enough for her to grab it fast if needed. She threw the pack on her back and was heading towards the cave entrance when she remembered something. Antonio had said something about trackers. Lex cursed the man as she took everything out of the belt's pockets and tossed the whole thing on the ground. She still couldn't believe that he had done something so awful.

In a gloomy mood, but more determined than ever the woman turned on the flashlight and tried to recall the correct route.

* * *

Thanks to the light Lex was moving faster than last time and started to get close to her destination. She had decided to say what she had to say quickly and without fear. Wisely, she had also decided to keep a safe distance to the unpredictable hunter.

"Stealth!" Lex shouted, seeing a dim light coming from around the corner. She didn't want to sneak up on the predator. Somehow she had a feeling that he wouldn't like being surprised. The woman pushed aside the rest of her nervousness and marched into the crypt-like cave, ready for anything.

The cave was empty.

That made Lex's heart skip a beat, though she otherwise maintained her calm. The warrior had to be there. He couldn't have gotten outside without her noticing. Maybe behind some rock pillar… What a foolish thought. Why would a seven and a half feet tall predator hide from her?

"Boo."

Lex almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the husky voice right next to her ear. She spun around and faced Stealth. The woman could have sworn that his mandibles were twisted in a broad sneer.

So much for the safe distance.

The huge warrior was blocking the only way out, but Lex wasn't thinking about that. Had he just taken time and hid only to scare the living daylights out of her?

"What the fuck!? Are you out of your freaking mind?!"

Stealth laughed the sarcastic and cold laugh that seemed to be distinctive for him.

"You humans… are pathetic... You walked… right by me… and didn't even… sense anything... If I… had been hunting… you would be dead now."

Lex couldn't stop herself from taking a quick peek at the many skulls that were laying in the corner. No! She had to concentrate. Scar needed help.

"Forget your over-grown ego for a moment and listen."

The predator's eyes narrowed a bit. The woman was pushing her luck. Why had the slave even come back by herself?

"There was an ambush waiting outside. Scar… Scar was captured."

The information made Stealth frown. "How?"

Relieved to see that the warrior was taking the matter seriously, Lex told what had happened.

"_Fool"_, he snorted. _"To be caught so easily."_

Something in the tone of the hunter's clicks worried the woman.

"You will help him, right? We have to hurry…"

"Why should I?" A harsh voice interrupted. "It was… his own fault… not my problem."

Lex was shocked to hear this.

"You can't be serious. They're going to put him through some hideous experiments and you're just going to sit here. Don't you care at all what happens to your comrade?"

Watching the panicking of the human was amusing to Stealth. Of course he would have to go save that idiot, but he was in no hurry. Teasing the woman was actually quite fun.

"How would… helping him… benefit me?"

The predator tilted his head, eyeing Lex shamelessly.

"Now you absolutely can't be serious", she stated angrily

Stealth took a step closer to demonstrate how serious he was and Lex moved backwards out of his reach.

"Don't you even think of touching me again!"

"Or else what?" The predator purred. "Are you going to… challenge me… with that spear… of yours?"

"Yes if I have to."

"Then show me… are you worthy… of carrying that."

Saying the last word Stealth started to approach the woman again. Lex ran out of the way and slightly hesitantly pulled the combispear out of the pack and extended it. Knowing that the warrior wasn't in any fighting condition didn't help much after all. He was still 7,5 feet tall, probably about 300 pounds and coming at her. She couldn't think of any brilliant self-defence moves, but keeping the predator away from her felt like a good idea. The woman swung the spear at the hunter warningly. Stealth didn't take out his weapons, but started slowly circling around Lex.

"Why aren't you… attacking properly? Those darts… are still affecting… so I can't even… use my weapons… or move too fast. You have… the perfect chance… to defeat me."

As the woman just stared at him, unable to hide her fear, the predator smiled condescendingly and stopped.

"You don't… want to fight? Should I then… think of something else… to do with you?"

Lex could very well guess what he had in mind. But what could she do? If she attacked seriously, she might manage to hurt him badly and then he would be of no help to Scar. And if she didn't fight and Stealth would catch her… she didn't want to imagine that.

Stealth solved the problem for her. Unexpectedly fast, the hunter slammed the combispear aside with his hand, causing the woman to lose her balance for a second. Lex didn't fall over, however, or didn't try to stop the weapon, but spun a full circle, letting it gather speed before hitting the somewhat surprised predator in the side of his head.

A little payback for the earlier hit, the woman thought as she drew the spear back and waited to see if it had worked. Stealth shook his head a couple of times and fixed his eyes back to Lex.

Shit.

Lex considered performing a tactical retreat, until she heard an already familiar sound. Why was the warrior laughing at her all the time?

"Well done… little slave... You certainly… have got guts."

"Little what?" Lex snapped, irritated and unsure of what the predator was thinking.

"Lower your weapon... I don't… have the patience… to listen to… the complaining… that would follow… if I damaged… his property."

For a moment the woman didn't react at all. She had begun to understand how Scar had introduced her to Stealth. She would have to have a little talk with Scar about that.

Cautiously Lex lowered that spear.

"Does that mean we're going to get Scar back?"

"It means that… I will go… settle some scores… and maybe yes… help him while at it... As for you… do whatever you want… after you've… helped me with something."

Lex looked at the predator inquiringly. What could she help him with?

Stealth turned a little and motioned towards something on his back.

"I have medicine… in my med kit... It should help… but I can't… put it myself now."

"Why not?" the woman asked suspiciously.

"I can't… get a hold."

"What should I do then? And how do I know you're not going to try anything after I help?"

Lex wanted to hear the answer to the second question, even though she already guessed it.

"If I really… was going to… do something to you… you wouldn't be… standing there now."

Not the most calming answer, but Lex settled for it. She contracted the combispear and removed her pack to put the weapon back to place. While doing that she repeated the first question.

"So what should I do?"

Stealth found a good-sized rock and sat on it.

"Come here."

Lex moaned mentally, unwilling to get closer. As if she had any choice. Reminding herself again of Scar's situation the woman got enough courage to walk right in front of the hunter that was gazing her intensively.

"Push from… the both sides… and pull it off", he explained, turning sideways so that Lex could see something.

Expressionlessly the woman reached to do as told, but couldn't get it off. She leaned closer to get a better grip, feeling uneasy to be standing so close to the extremely muscular predator.

After getting the kit off, Lex put it on the rock and started to examine it. She found the opening mechanism and pushed it. The cover came up, revealing various bizarre pieces of equipment and little bottles with colourful liquids inside.

Stealth turned back to the woman and pointed at a large syringe.

"Take this… it's ready for use."

Lex took the syringe, looking at the huge needle with shock.

"If I get hurt at some point, just leave me be. I seriously will kick anyone's ass who tries to approach me with one of these, no matter how effective this stuff is."

The woman turned her eyes away from her worst nightmare and noticed an amused glint in the predator's eyes. She almost smiled, thinking how the warrior didn't seem so bad when he wasn't trying to rape or kill her. Still, Lex wasn't going to get careless. She was worried of his intentions after he would feel better.

Next Stealth pointed at his side. "Right here."

Lex bit her lip, preparing for the unpleasant task. She saw the warrior tensing and holding his breath. From that she knew that it would really hurt.

A quick push and the needle went inside the tough skin. The predator roared so suddenly and loud that the woman staggered backwards frightened and fell to the ground.

Stealth leaned on his legs for a while, growling something Lex couldn't understand. The woman watched silently as the warrior opened and closed his fist for a few times. Clearly content with the result he got up and grabbed the syringe that was sticking out from his side, pulling it out.

Lex was still sitting on the ground, but jumped to her feet when Stealth gave her an inscrutable look.

Now she would see if he had changed his mind.

The hunter seemed like he was going to turn away at first, but instead, stepped towards the woman. Lex could only wait anxiously, knowing that she didn't have a chance of defending herself anymore if the predator decided to carry out his previous intentions.

Slowly, as if a little reluctantly Stealth bowed his head slightly.

Lex let out the breath she had inadvertently held in.

"You're welcome."


	11. Failing collaboration

Thank you for all the comments people! xD

Shadowglove: Hmm... Lex and Stealth probably won't become exactly friends, but i'm sure that even a small hint of that possibility would make Scar insanily jealous. starts to plan such a scene right away :D

Pampers Baby Dry: You're right, Stealth just **must** get an ooman female at some point. That would be so fun to write. ;p

katz579: I'm glad you think like that of Stealth. The general opinion seems to be that he's an asshole, but i actually didn't mean to make him appear that bad. xP But good point, Scar really is the damsel in distress this time. xD

blood shifter: I would run and scream too... actually i already did that when i was six years old and getting a vaccination. When i saw the needle i started running around the building screaming like crazy, all the nurses chasing me... managed to continue that for a while, but then my mom caught me over a table. And that was just an ordinary needle. :p

Taladarkiejj: I don't think Scar's going to have much trouble explaining the slave thing to Lex. If she gets angry he could probably shut her up by repeating what he did in the cave. ;D

* * *

The more Lex got to know the predators, the less she understood them. Stealth at least was a complete mystery to her. The woman watched impatiently, but quietly as the warrior fiddled with his wristdevice. He had refused to go anywhere before he would get it fixed.

"I want to… see the looks… on those cowards'… faces…. when they see… their doom… appearing in front of them."

Lex had made a face at the comment, but couldn't entirely deny the temptation of the thought. Still, she didn't want anyone to die, even if she was angry. Unfortunately Stealth didn't share her thoughts. He seemed determined to spread lots of death.

The woman sighed trying to figure out how to reduce the predator's hunting enthusiasm. After all, she didn't know much about their customs or anything, so it wouldn't be easy. Maybe she should start by finding out a few things.

"Umm…" Lex cleared her throat and saw Stealth taking a quick glance at her. After helping the warrior she had taken some distance to him, but strangely enough it felt shorter every time he looked at her.

"This might sound like a stupid question, but…"

Lex paused for a second. "Why do you hunt?"

Stealth stared at her with a face that was without a doubt telling: yes, that was a stupid question.

"I'm serious. Why? What do you gain from it?"

The predator pondered the reason for the woman's sudden curiosity and came to the conclusion that she was simply bored. Either that, or she was trying to dig up information so she could tell it to the other humans. Stealth had half-seriously suspected that the woman could be working with them, until she had come back by herself. From that he had known she was too foolish to be planning anything like that.

"Honour."

Lex had anticipated that kind of an answer. Now she could lead the conversation to right direction.

"So, many kills bring much honour? No matter who you kill?"

Stealth noticed the judgemental tone in the woman's voice, but didn't care about it. He got back to repairing the device, hardly concentrating on answering.

"Strong opponents… bring more honour."

"But you kill weaker ones too?"

"If they get in the way."

Lex had a vivid flashback of Antarctica and Charles Weyland, standing in front of approaching Scar, willing to die to buy her and Sebastian the time to escape. She remembered how the predator had effortlessly lifted the deathly ill man by his throat and then just dropped him like he had been garbage. Only after Weyland had attacked for the second time, Scar had taken the time to end his life.

The memory was so strong that for a moment Lex couldn't remember anymore why she wanted to risk her own life for the hunter. For a hunter Scar was and would be, even if they had… whatever feelings they had for each other.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the woman realized that the silence had continued for sometime already. It however looked like Stealth couldn't have cared less if she was talking or not. Lex would have wanted to ask more, but she didn't know how long she could question the warrior without making him either curious about her motives or plain irritated.

At least she had figured out something. Vincent and Antonio were in the biggest danger since they had already challenged Stealth, but if the others could be made to seem weak enough, maybe they would be left in peace. If only they wouldn't do anything to make Scar mad. Lex feared that after a certain limit, even she couldn't calm the quick-tempered warrior.

* * *

Darkness. The first thing that the predator realized. Impenetrable darkness and silence. Forming thoughts was difficult. So was moving Scar tried to open his eyes, but failed. Where was he?

Lex.

What had happened to her? Everything was still blurry in Scar's mind.

"W… ged… ke…. les."

Discontinuous voices seemed to be coming from somewhere far away.

"… mens… re… lent… can… gin… soon."

More talk and this time he could almost make out the words. If only he could have opened his eyes and see who were talking.

"…ntinue, doctor."

He recognized that voice.

Without even knowing how he managed to do it, Scar reached his hand out with lightning speed, aiming to where the voice had come from and grabbed the human he hated by the lapels. Despite that he felt weak he drew the man easily closer to his face.

And finally opened his eyes.

Antonio looked very surprised.

The unforeseen awakening caused quite a stir as other humans were rushing to help their comrade. None of them would have been strong enough to break the hunter's grip, but they didn't have to. Surprising Scar as well as the humans, Antonio stopped the helpers with one gesture. Then he returned the warrior's glare with a wide smile.

"Already awake, are we now? Impressive, considering that we were counting on you to be out cold still for at least a couple of hours."

Scar growled threateningly at the man, deciding that sooner or later he was going to add that human's skull to his collection. He tried to get up, but could merely rise an inch before collapsing back. His vision blurred for a moment, so he couldn't see Antonio signalling to one of the humans. A brief sting in the arm and Scar felt his grip loosening as his mind slid back into the dark.

"We are truly sorry, we had no idea…"

"You couldn't have known he'd wake up this fast. Prepare for the next phase and make sure it's tied up this time. It has to be conscious when we begin."

* * *

The long wait was over at last. Stealth's wrist computer was working again. The whole time Lex had been sitting with her flashlight in hand, meditating and worrying about the future. If she had known where to go, she would have gone ahead, but she didn't have a clue. She was going to have to trust in Stealth in that matter.

The predator stood up, put his mask on and started to leave.

"Can you track them?"

Lex hurried after the warrior, forgetting the safe distance. When he was at full strength and had functioning equipment, it didn't really matter how far she was.

Stealth looked over his shoulder at the woman, like he had just remembered her existence. More stupid questions. Not bothering to answer, the hunter continued walking. Lex could only sigh in frustration as she turned the light on and followed him. What a great team they would make.

* * *

Stealth was moving at a rapid pace, not waiting at all for the woman who could barely keep up. Lex was tired and panting, refusing to give up however. She knew that she was in better shape than average people, but the predators' endurance was something else. Assuring herself for the tenth time that they would soon reach their destination, Lex tried to concentrate on thinking other things. She ended up spending the rest of the way imagining various methods that fate could have punished Stealth with for making her go through this torture.

The warrior didn't trip on any roots or rabid squirrels, but Lex was happy to see the familiar cottages once again. As Stealth stopped to study the surrounding area, the weary woman dropped on all fours.

"I might… as well… participate… in the next marathon… since I already… have practiced", Lex muttered to herself from between her heavy breaths. She swept the hair that sweat had glued to her face, aside and changed to a sitting position, reaching for her backpack. In a moment she had found her water bottle and was struggling to restrain herself from drinking it empty right away.

That proved to be easier than she had thought. The first gulp went down the wrong way. Stealth had inconspicuously come and crouched beside her, staring her from behind the blank mask.

"W-what?" Lex asked after coughing for a while. "Did you really have to scare me like that?"

The woman was sure that the predator had made a hobby out of teasing her.

Stealth pointed at a building that was slightly separate from the other buildings.

"There."

"There? But that's just a warehouse. How could there be an entire lab?"

"Not… in there. Beneath."

Lex was very doubtful.

"How do you know that, do you have some kind of an x-ray vision?"

"Yes."

The hunter's simple statement left the woman lost for words, as something unpleasant came to her mind. The predator better had not taken advantage of that vision around her. Otherwise she would soon go and borrow a couple of those tranquilizer guns and arranged him to be Antonio's next guinea pig.

Apparently her thoughts were easy to read. Stealth reached his hand to remove a lost lock of hair from Lex's face, letting his fingers linger intentionally long on the shivering woman's skin.

"And it really… helps getting… interesting perspectives… on some things."

Lex jumped up to her still trembling feet, turning red from anger.

"What's wrong with you?! You seriously have a sick sense of humour. Just leave me alone you jerk!"

A terrible silence followed the woman's outburst, during of which Stealth stood up too, towering over her. At that point Lex thought that she might have gone too far. Maybe the predator's relatively harmless teasing would have been better than that ominous silence.

"I'm… not joking", Stealth stated, difficult to interpret what he meant by that.

"Whatever. Let's just try to find a way down then."

Lex picked up her backpack and put the bottle back in it before making her protesting legs move again. She would have to be careful of her own temperament too. The hunter hadn't done anything serious to her since their first encounter so the woman had a good reason to believe that he wouldn't even try anything anymore if she didn't provoke him somehow. She probably should just consider everything he would say to be a dirty joke. At least until they would find Scar, she would have to stay on his good side.

"Really", Lex pondered out loud as she was walking towards the warehouse. "Is there some kind of an explanation to your behaviour or did you just have a crummy childhood?"

Stealth wasn't sure what the woman had meant by the latter, but he answered truthfully, at the same time grinning at the thought of how she would react.

"I'm curious… about your kind. I want to… copulate… with a human female."

A human probably wouldn't have noticed any change in Lex's appearance. She seemed completely calm outwardly. However, she couldn't fool Stealth. Even though he couldn't see her face when he was walking behind her, he could tell that the woman's heart was suddenly pounding a lot faster.

It took a while before Lex was able to suppress her anger and embarrassment about the fact that some primitive part of her had actually gotten a little excited of what the predator had said. She quickly obliterated that part.

"Then you're definitely on the wrong track with the whole thing. Most men declare that sort of intentions by bringing the woman flowers or other gifts."

"Like… that combispear… of yours."

The unexpected observation surprised the woman.

"It… it's not like that."

They arrived in front of the large door of the warehouse. Lex was hoping that the time for talking was over. But no, the warrior had still one important question.

"Why do you… want to save him… so badly?"

The woman pretended that she hadn't heard the question. She bent over to examine the lock on the door.

"If they went in here, somebody must've stayed outside to lock this. Can you see, if…"

The rest of the sentence was silenced by a loud crash when Stealth hit the door with frightening force, sending pieces of wood flying around them. Lex watched, her mouth open, as the hinges gave in and the entire door smashed to the floor. Forgetting what she had been about to say, she stared at the predator next to her, both impressed and alarmed by the sudden display of strength.

Stealth turned back to Lex, believing that he had gotten her attention now. He grabbed the woman by her chin to make sure that her attention would stay focused on him. He still hadn't gotten an answer.

"Why?"

Lex couldn't look straight at the relentless hunter for long so she averted her eyes. Even through his mask she could feel his piercing gaze burning on her face. What could she say? She didn't know what would happen if she told the truth.

An unexpected stroke of good fortune in the form of a young man saved Lex from answering.

"Who's there?!" A man in a camouflage suit emerged from somewhere around the corner and froze when he saw Stealth. He might have brought good luck to Lex, but his own had just run out. The woman saw him take a small handgun from its holster.

"Wait, don't…!" Lex yelled in terror, clinging onto the predator's arm, trying to stop the inevitable. Stealth shoved the woman aside like she was nothing.

"Run! Get out of here!" Lex pleaded.

The man hesitated, aiming his gun at the monster he saw.

Then he couldn't see it anymore.

After two seconds, he couldn't see anything anymore.


	12. An old grudge

Thank you so much for reading and commenting and sorry that you had to wait a little longer than usually for the next chapter.

**katz579: **Questions that even i can't answer yet for sure. And thank you for sending me that pic, it's awesome. xD

**GreenAlpaca:** That's a train i would take too, but i think that Lex probably has a stronger conscience than us. xP

**SC Girl:** A dating service!! That's the best idea i've heard. XD I wonder what Stealth would say if Lex suggested that to him.

**shadowglove:** You have a funny friend. :D

**Taladarkiejj: **I agree with you. I'll have to arrange a girlfriend to him somehow. ;)

**Elunara:** Well... can't really say if Scar's gonna be alright... at least he'll probably be traumatized. xp Heh, i can't imagine Stealth being the type to give presents. He just takes what he wants.

**Fire Orb:** Others have said the same. Stealth desperately needs a girlfriend. :D

* * *

The same familiar feeling. Darkness and silence, incoherent thoughts. This time, however, Scar knew for the most part what was going on. He didn't even try to move, but remained still, waiting for his senses to become clearer. If he played his cards right, the humans wouldn't get away with just a scare this time.

A bright light lit up, shining through the warrior's closed eyelids. He didn't react to it. There was no need to let them know he was awake. Scar lay down, resisting the urge to move his numb limbs and waited to hear any kind of sign of the humans' presence.

When nothing happened, the impatient hunter soon got bored of waiting. He didn't have all day to lie around. If the prey didn't come to him, he would have to go to the prey. And maybe try to find Lex while at it.

That thought settled it. Scar wanted to see that the woman was alright. Maybe she was being held captive in the same place as him. He didn't dare to think what they might had done to her. Anger rose from the warrior's gut as his imagination ran wild, showing him all the worst-case scenarios.

Torturing himself with frightening images had given Scar new energy and determination. He would raise hell if he found out that they had as much as even scratched her. When he had come to, he had started to observe the sensations around him and could already tell that things weren't exactly to his liking. He felt cold metal pressing on his wrists, ankles and chest, but it was what he couldn't feel that worried him more. Without having to open his eyes the predator knew that all of his equipment and armour had been taken away.

Oh, how Stealth would have laughed, if he had seen him right then.

Scar opened his other eye a little, in case there were humans nearby after all. At first glimpse he only saw the blinding light coming from above. Turning his head slightly to the left he could distinguish a wooden chair and a couple of white desks completely covered with well-organized papers and folders. No humans. On the other side there was only another chair and a window that revealed a somewhat similar room.

Scar couldn't see the door so he assumed that it was somewhere behind him. As he had thought, there were no humans in sight. He could move freely. Or at least as freely as the thick metal bars that were restraining him allowed. The predator opened his eyes entirely and lifted his head to see what they had done to him.

A hollow growl echoed from the hunter's throat when he noted the several needles and wires going from his body into a machine next to the table he was laying on. Only his loincloth and wiremesh were left, everything else the humans had taken. Perhaps he should have just thought positively, at least they had left him something. An impish grin flashed on the predator's face as he briefly tried to imagine Lex's reaction if he all of a sudden appeared in front of her, in all of his naked magnificence.

Scar took a closer look at the machine he hadn't even noticed at first. Incomprehensible lines and numbers were dancing on the screen and the predator soon got tired of watching it. He didn't care what it was meant for; it wouldn't matter after he would free himself, tear the wires off and stomp the device until it would be in countless pieces. The same he would do to any puny human that crossed his path.

The bloodthirsty warrior tensed his muscles against the unbending metal, suddenly at the brink of rage. How dared they?! He would go through every one of them slowly and painfully. He would break their every fragile bone one by one, enjoying the agonized cries and not stopping even if they begged for the relief of death. Finally he would watch their futile struggle while squeezing the rest of their lives out of them.

Thinking of the upcoming slaughter made the excited hunter's blood boil with anticipation. He was absorbed deeper into the gory fantasy, forgetting reality and hearing the screams in his mind and…

Peep peep… peep peep…

Scar blinked repeatedly, surprised by not only the sound, but also the intensity of his rage. It felt like he had just awaken from a dream. His skin was tingling all over and his heart was racing like there was no tomorrow. What had gotten into him? Lex would never again come anywhere near him if she saw him like that.

A sudden noise alerted the predator. He closed his eyes and lay motionless as someone stepped into the room.

"Well, well, look who's awake at last. Judging from that reaction just now we are starting to get results."

Scar opened his eyes again, pondering what the human had said. So the whole time they had known that he was conscious. A familiar-looking man walked to the predator, followed by two other humans, one man and the other woman. The other man went over to the desks to examine the papers while the woman a little hesitantly came closer to the warrior to get a look at the device.

Scar stared grimly at the man who had spoken to him and was probably in charge. Then he recognized him to be the other human that had attacked Stealth. The man didn't try to hide the hostile look on his face and even grimaced disgusted when observing the predator more closely.

"I noticed that you didn't like Antonio much. I can promise you that you're not going to like me either."

Scar believed that. For a moment the two engaged in a stare down, both sizing the other up. Neither of them gave up, not even when the predator suddenly flared his mandibles in a fierce growl. It was enough to give the woman a startle, but the man only glared at the warrior irritated and turned his back to him.

"You can continue behaving like that, though it won't do any good. Try to break free if you want to. I guarantee that it's impossible. This thing was designed to keep your kind under control."

Vincent went to get some papers from the other man and nodded contentedly. Then he grabbed a chair and carried it next to Scar. Casually he sat on it, throwing his feet on the table just far enough so that the predator couldn't reach him. Vincent leaned back in his chair, looking more like he was getting ready to watch his favourite show from the TV.

"Could you go get the supplies, Annie?"

"Sure."

The woman disappeared from Scar's view for about ten seconds before returning with a small trolley.

"Leave it here", the man said crossing his arms over his chest. "You may leave."

For a moment the woman looked like she was about to say something. She glanced at the predator quickly, almost like apologizing, but left the room with the other man.

The door slammed shut after them, leaving behind an eerie silence. Vincent sat quietly letting the warrior look at the equipment the woman had brought. Scar knew without telling that they were meant to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible. It didn't matter what the humans wanted of him, he wouldn't give in despite any amount of torture.

"Tell me", the man started with a cold voice. "Are you the one responsible for the disappearances in this area?"

The predator raised his eyes and saw that the two humans were now in the next room, sitting in front of some kind of computers, making notes in their papers. The man was clearly waiting for an answer and Scar realized that he must've heard him warning Lex at the caves. So they knew he could speak in their language.

Vincent put his feet on the floor and bent closer as the predator opened his mouth.

And let out a long yawn.

Scar found it absolutely amusing how a small vein popped on the man's forehead when he clenched his teeth.

"Very funny", the man stated, though his expression didn't quite match the words.

"Let's make a couple of things clear right now. I know you can talk so no use pretending you don't understand."

Vincent paused to recall something else he had heard at the caves.

"Scar, wasn't it?"

He knew he had remembered correctly when he saw the predator's surprised look. He leaned forward again, as close as it was safe to be and nearly spat the words out of his mouth.

"Alright, _Scar_. My name is Vincent Keyes. 15 years ago one of your kinds emerged into Los Angeles and started to slay people like cattle. My father was the head of a federal task force back then, on a mission to stop the killing and capture the creature. He was, however, killed too as well as many other good men with families."

The anger caused by the old grudge projected from the man's eyes.

"The other thing I'm making clear: if you weren't valuable research material, you would be dead already. I won't show any pity towards you and I won't think twice of hurting you when necessary."

Scar could see that the man's determination was on the edge of insanity. He didn't know whether to pity or admire it. Vincent sat straight again, forcing himself to calm down.

"You're so far only the second we've managed to caught. The first one died during the experiments, but we still got a lot of useful information. Enough to develop 'the beacon'."

Scar didn't say anything, even though the thought of the death of an honourable fellow hunter in the hands of scientists made him angry. Curiosity was stronger than the anger at east for now. The man continued his monologue.

"Simply explained your computers tell you where the best hunting grounds are and our beacon disturbs them, making any area we want to appear as the best option. That's why you're here now and not for example in some big city."

The oddly remote location had actually made Scar and probably Stealth too, wonder at first, but since it was their first human hunt he hadn't questioned anything. The predator had to give a little credit for the humans' inventiveness. That was what made them such an interesting prey.

"Without that woman things wouldn't have gone this smoothly. I would have never, however, believed any human to betray their own to defend a cold-blooded killer like you."

Vincent snorted contemptfully.

"But then again who can figure out what women are thinking. Over-emotional and easily controllable beings."

If the metal bars had been even slightly thinner, he would have been up in an instant, shaking the man until he would have told him what had happened to Lex. Since unfortunately that wasn't the case, he settled on asking.

"Where is Lex?"

Now it was Vincent's turn to look surprised. He hadn't expected him to actually talk, let alone ask something like that.

"What do you care about that?"

"Where?" Scar repeated persistently as always.

A brief annoyance could be seen on the man's face, but it soon changed to a sadistic grin. He lightly grabbed one of the needles sticking out of the warrior's arm, watching seemingly deep in thought as the translucent liquid flowed through it. Slowly he started to push it deeper into the thick skin.

"I will ask the questions here."

Gratified to see the predator's mandibles twitch from the unpleasant feeling the man twisted the needle sideways at the same time talking.

"But if you want to know so badly, she's probably still in the woods where I knocked her out. I wouldn't have let her off so easily, but apparently Antonio still has some feelings for her."

Scar felt the waves of incandescent rage and bloodlust spreading inside him the same way he had felt before the man had entered the room. He would hang that bastard on the wall with his own needles.

Vincent pulled away from the roaring and raging warrior and turned his attention to the device. The readings had gone up drastically.

"Great", he was practically rubbing his hands with joy. "We're improving. Let's see what happens when we go a little bit further."

"Keyes!"

Vincent looked at the walkie-talkie on his waist like it was a badly trained puppy that had just taken a piss on his shoes. He was extremely bothered by the interruption, but answered the call anyway.

"What?"

"Are we expecting company? Someone just activated the warehouse elevator without notifying us."

Scar had somehow managed to get his fit of rage under control when he had heard the strange voice. Suddenly he had a bad feeling.

"Has anyone seen our mystery guest yet?"

"No. And we can't contact the guard we left up. How should we handle this?"

Vincent pondered for a while and seemed to get an idea. He watched the predator's face closely as he gave his instructions.

"If our guest happens to be a dark-skinned woman, bring her to me. And no need to mention this to Antonio, understood?"

"Perfectly."

The man didn't even have to look at the machine that had started to peep rapidly to know that he had found the right nerve.

"If it really is her, try not to hurt her too badly. Of course if she resists, do what you have to do."

Scar was almost choking on his fury as the man calmly put the walkie-talkie away and stood up.

"If we're lucky, we might get the chance to find out just how much she means to you."

The malicious grin made the warrior want to rip the man's face off with his bare hands. But why did it feel like his whole body was on fire.

Vincent turned to leave, but before he did, he pushed a few buttons on the device. The burning seemed to get worse every second and Scar was having trouble forming thoughts.

"There", the man stated and walked to the door, talking more to himself than to the anguished predator.

"Increasing the dose should make things a little more interesting."


	13. Choose your side

Thank you once again for reading and commenting, i just can't believe how many people have read my story. xD

**Lady Lithoniel: **Thank u, and i can't wait to get to write that. :D

**SC Girl:** Definitely. :D Someone should draw a picture of a predator doing a dating profile, that would be funny. xD

**Karau:** Well, here's Stealth, great that someone likes him. ;)

**shadowglove: **Predator survival 101... hilarious! XD Though handy, since the humans never seem to know the basic rules.

**Taladarkiejj: **Yeah, they all will be quite surprised. x) I can't wait to write the part where Antonio or Vincent meet Stealth again. xP

* * *

Lex was giving Stealth the silent treatment. The man's death had upset her greatly and even the predator could see it, though didn't know why she was like that. After recovering from the shock the woman would have wanted to rant and rave at the ruthless hunter, but the words got stuck in her throat. How could she scold him when deep down she knew that they hadn't really had a lot of other options? The man had had to be silenced somehow.

Of course Stealth could have just knocked the man out and they could have tied him up and left him somewhere. Lex knew, however that these predators didn't do things that way. When someone pointed a weapon at them, it was the same as challenging them openly. And the hunters would never let their challengers to simply walk away.

Except for a few exceptional cases like herself. It was thanks to Scar that she was still alive. Otherwise she would have probably died the second she had threatened Stealth with the combispear. Or worse.

Suddenly the woman remembered what she had done when Scar had emerged into her room at the previous night. With gloomy amusement she realized that she was pretty surely the only human on earth that had actually pointed a weapon at **two** predators and had lived to tell about it. If only she would have known what was going on inside that thick head of Scar's. There were so many questions she would have liked to ask, but was afraid to. If this was their true nature, could she, or should she even try to change it.

Stealth found the woman's behaviour oddly inconsistent. She wanted desperately to save the hunter that had claimed her as his own, but at the same time tried to stop him from getting rid of those who stood in their way. She could soon become a nuisance. The woman would have to demonstrate how she was planning on achieving her goal and surviving without shedding blood.

It didn't take long for the predator to find a hidden elevator from inside the warehouse. He looked at the woman, guessing in his mind if she would follow him anymore.

Lex hated the situation she was in. When they would go down, Stealth would kill every human he could find. Just according to his nature. No matter how hard she tried not to think about it, she felt responsible for his doings. Knowing that the warrior would have eventually gone to search his comrade with or without her didn't ease her mind.

The predator's first victim had been s stranger to Lex, but still she was deeply saddened by his fate. The young man had had dreams and plans for the future, like everyone did. Things and beliefs that had been taken away from him for no good reason.

Lex thought of Antonio and all the others who had been at the caves. All of them, from the young Mark with his angelic face to the gray-haired sheriff, had looked at her with an utmost determination in their eyes. The kind of determination that comes from solid belief. And everyone believed that they were doing the right thing and protecting people, even at the risk of getting killed. Lex couldn't do anything about that. The only thing she could hope for was that they would get to Scar unnoticed or that she would find a way to prevent Stealth from killing again.

Stepping in the elevator Lex strictly avoided any eye contact with the predator who was standing uncomfortably close to her, even though there was room for about five people.

She could see three buttons on the wall. So there were at least two floors underground. Where would they find Scar? Still not willing to talk to Stealth, the woman made the decision by herself and pushed the lowest button. Didn't people usually hide their biggest secrets as far from prying eyes as possible?

As the elevator descended seemingly slowly, Stealth pondered what to do with the woman. He didn't want her jumping in his way every time a human came in sight. The hunter kept eyeing Lex the whole way down, concluding that the simplest means would probably be the best.

"I'm warning you… this time… stay out of my way."

Lex didn't say anything.

Then the elevator stopped and at the same time the predator turned on his cloaking device. Lex held her breath as the door opened. She was now facing a well-lit, white and most importantly an empty corridor. The woman could actually sense the warrior's disappointment. Maybe her luck was beginning to change. Not trusting too much on that assumption, Lex stuck her head out of the elevator extremely carefully. She had no idea what she would have done if someone had been out there, but luckily that wasn't the case.

The corridor itself was enough to make the woman anxious. On the right there was nothing, but a wall, while on her left, the corridor ended to a door approximately 60 feet from them. Alongside it were many, numbered doors. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was pure white. The lack of colours and the brightness created disturbingly surreal surroundings, making her feel like she was in a horror movie.

Taking a quick glance at Stealth, Lex noted that because of the effective lighting, the predator had little benefit from the camouflage. She could see his movements much easier than in the more colourful forest.

Every step broke the suffocating silence, even though the woman tried her best to walk as quietly as the graceful hunter. The place had a really eerie atmosphere and now Lex would have gladly talked to Stealth to calm her nerves. Surprisingly enough, the predator also seemed to be moving slower and more cautiously than necessary. That didn't make her any less nervous.

One moment came to Lex's mind. The moment in Antarctica after the alien had taken Sebastian and she had been left alone to wander the maze-like pyramid. The situation she was now in didn't resemble it much, but for some reason she couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity. Somewhat ironically, the woman moved a little closer to the almost invisible warrior, seeking safety.

Stealth was focusing on his own observation. Coming into the corridor he had switched to the x-ray vision to see what was waiting for them behind the doors. At first he had thought that his wristdevice was malfunctioning again, but since he was still cloaked that most likely wasn't the problem. Something prevented him from seeing beyond the corridor. Well, the humans had succeeded in making things slightly more challenging.

The two stopped in front of the furthest door. Neither of them had thought of inspecting the other rooms, they just knew that they would have to go straight forward. Lex took a deep breath standing in front of the heavy door. She didn't know if she could do this.

"Shall we step in or should we knock first?" Lex spoke quietly to herself. She was just about to grab the knob when she saw the figure of the predator move as he lifted his hand and banged the door a couple of times.

The woman nearly jumped to the ceiling from the scare.

"What are you doing?!" She hissed angrily. "I wasn't serious about that."

Stealth on the other hand thought it was a great idea. Especially when he heard someone starting to open the locks from the other side. Lex cast a distressed look at the warrior, clearly fearing that he was going to attack as soon as the door had opened. She backed down, praying in her mind that the unfortunate human wouldn't have to suffer much.

The door opened slowly and two bright blue eyes peeked out. Lex knew who it was long before the amazed voice echoed in the corridor.

"Lex? You're alright! I'm sorry we left you there, believe me not everyone wanted to do that, but Vincent and Antonio said not to take you with us."

The youngster continued on babbling as the woman stared at him, hardly listening to what he was saying. Oh dear God, why of all the people it had to be Mark? Lex understood well Annie's want to protect this innocent and naive kid that could barely be called a man. There was no way she could stand and watch Stealth kill him. The scrawny man wouldn't stand a chance against the powerful hunter.

The door opened towards the corridor so Mark couldn't possibly see the predator waiting behind it. He looked at the quiet woman, wondering and seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Oops."

Lex glanced at him inquiringly, concentrating more on thinking about how to keep him alive. It was impossible to follow the warrior's way of thinking and Lex hated it. Even right then she had no clue why he hadn't done anything. The best explanation she could think of was that Stealth was going to use her as some kind of decoy.

"I probably shouldn't have opened the door for you", Mark explained, rubbing his neck embarrassed. "Keith was ordered to guard this entrance with me, but he had to leave somewhere for a moment. I was supposed to inform him if someone tried to come through here."

Lex had to smile despite her nervousness.

"Why did you open the door then?"

The man shrugged. "Well, you knocked. I guess I thought that someone from the other floor was coming. And I don't think that the bad guys tend to knock before barging in."

The woman laughed shortly, partly at how wrong he was with that. Next to her Stealth moved slightly, making clear that whatever his intentions were, he wasn't going to wait for long anymore. Lex stopped herself in the nick of time from turning her head towards the predator and instead fixed her appealing eyes on Mark.

"I must talk to Antonio. Please, tell me where I can find him."

The young man shook his head with an apologizing face.

"I haven't got a clue of his whereabouts and I haven't been here long enough to know my way around here. Can you believe that I worked here in the park for six months without ever knowing this place existed?"

Mark took a quick look over his shoulder as if to make sure no one was listening before leaning closer to the door opening and continuing with his voice lowered.

"They don't tell me that much, but I heard Vincent had ordered to bring you straight to him if you came here. Just between the two of us, you should turn back while you still can. Antonio's great, but there's something in Vincent that I don't like. I'm starting to think that even Antonio doesn't know everything that's been happening down here."

Lex tried to comprehend and assemble what she had heard. The man was about to say something again when he happened to make an unfortunate observation. He had leaned out of the door just enough to notice an unclear figure by the woman's side.

"What the…?"

That ended the waiting. Stealth yanked the door all the way open and shoved the weak human out of his path, causing him to fly backwards several feet.

"NO!" Lex yelled, filled with anger and frustration as she watched the warrior who was now visible, go after his defenceless prey. "Stop it, he hasn't done anything!"

Exactly like earlier, the predator ignored her and lifted the man up by his throat, examining him coldly.

"Stealth put him down! I mean it!"

Mark yelped as the grip tightened.

At that moment, Lex was forced to choose her side. She drew the combispear from her back and without even extending it, stabbed it into Stealth's shoulder.

The hunter roared more from surprise than pain and let the man fall to the floor where he remained, coughing violently. The woman pulled the spear out, getting some of the green blood on her, but hadn't really planned what to do next. Stealth spun around with his wristblades exposed and obviously furious.

Seeing the 7,5 feet tall combination of sheer muscle and killing intent coming at her made Lex seriously wish that she had come up with a plan B.


	14. Staying alive

I'm sorryyyyy! I made you wait again. Don't kill me!! xD And really, thank you everyone for the awesome reviews. XD I'm so damn tired right now i can hardly see straight, so i'll only answer to few of them.

**Elunara: **Thank u 3 It's hard to keep in mind how people could realistically behave in these kind of situations, but i try my best. And i know, i'm evil, sorry to make you wait. xP

**Crooked: **Waah, thank you very much, i really am hoping that my english is improving. Slowly but steadily. :p

**blood predator: **That's a really good point! And thank you. I'll try to think how to use that here. Though, i'll think that Scar was originally attracted to Lex because of her fighting skills. But still, a good point. :D

**Bubbilicous Genious: **Thank you! I'm glad that so many people seem to like it. And especially that one scene. XP

I do not own Scar or Lex.

* * *

The combispear was the only thing protecting Lex when Stealth swung his deadly wristblades at her. The woman barely managed to raise the weapon in front of her before the blades would have cut her. She, however, couldn't stop the heavy blow entirely and got knocked off her feet. In an instant the predator was coming at her again, as persistently as death itself.

Lex cried out in pain as the warrior kicked the spear off of her hand with brutal force. Not wanting to see what he was going to do next, she quickly pushed aside the pain and tried to get some distance between them. Staying in the reach of an angry predator would most likely have fatal consequences.

Lex got to the wall and used it to get on her feet faster. Stealth was still right behind her, impossible to lose so easily. A single thought almost froze the woman with its overwhelming finality.

She was going to die.

Indeed she would have died, if the hunter had then decided to finish her off. There was no way for her to get away anymore. Stealth grabbed Lex by her hair and dragged the resisting woman between him and the wall. She did her best to fight back, kicking and pounding the warrior as hard as she could, but he barely felt anything.

No, she couldn't die now, not yet!

As Stealth tried to get a hold of the woman's hands, she even bit him. All the useless attempts were only getting on the predator's nerves. He was starting to wonder if he should end the struggle right there or first take pleasure in the woman's suffering. Well, he was in no hurry.

A severe slap in the face with the back of his hand brought tears into Lex's eyes and would have made her fall over if she hadn't been held up painfully by the hair. Then the grip loosened and she had to lean on the wall to stay up. She didn't have to hang on for long, however. A large hand clutched both of the woman's wrists. Before she had time to realize what was going on, the warrior had pinned her hands above her head, taking away pretty much her last chance of defending herself.

Stealth was using only one arm to hold Lex, but it was more than enough. She wouldn't be going anywhere; he would make sure of that. Fear and anguish shone from the woman's face, making the predator grin maliciously behind his mask. No, he was in no hurry after all.

The grip around Lex's hands tightened, causing almost unbearable pain especially in her injured hand. Tears were escaping from under her shut eyelids. Every effort of freeing herself hurt too much.

"I warned you", a gruff voice stated with a deceitfully soft tone.

Lex knew what that tone meant. The hunter wasn't going to go easy on her. The woman gritted her teeth and faced her tormentor. A new feeling was rising alongside fear: desperate anger.

"Bullshit! Let go of me you sick…" Lex had to interrupt her defiant eruption when the predator flashed his wristblades in front of her face.

"Are you sure… you want to… continue that?"

Yes she was. At that point it felt pointless to watch her mouth.

"We wouldn't be having this problem in the first place if you and your kind wouldn't be so obsessed with killing everything that moves and can hold a weapon. Where the hell have you even gotten your name from, when you can't even sneak around in this kind of fucking poorly guarded building without being noticed?!"

The woman nearly yelled the rest, not caring how the warrior would react to her outburst. If she was going to meet her end, she would damn surely speak her mind before that. It was either a sign of bravery or unbelievable stupidity.

Preparing for the worse Lex watched as the predator moved the blades with his free hand, bringing them closer to the side of her face, until they lightly touched her skin.

"You're the one… with the problem here… not me."

Stealth ran the blades down the woman's neck and stopped around her shoulder.

"Why are you here… if our ways are… so horrible to you?"

Lex realized that he was now talking about Scar and the topic she had been avoiding in her thoughts. That made her lose the confidence that anger had given her.

"Scar is nothing like you. He… he…"

The tears were threatening to come again. She didn't know what to say. That Scar would definitely stop hunting just for her? She didn't believe that.

Stealth laughed at the woman's hesitation, clearly enjoying both the physical and mental torturing. He leaned a little closer and said the words that hit their target perfectly.

"Don't get your hopes up… inside he's… exactly like me… and he won't change."

Lex was left speechless, but her mind was one big chaos. Those words summed up her greatest worries. Somehow she had thought that Scar would do it for her. Change his normal hunting habits to for example chasing criminals that lurked in the streets at night. That she could probably somehow accept. But how far would the warrior be willing to go?

They had formed some kind of a bond between them when fighting against a common enemy. A bond that had brought two individuals from completely different species and backgrounds closer together. Still, it didn't necessary mean that it was a strong bond, like love or something like that. She couldn't tell what it was and that bugged the hell out of her. She had to find out how Scar felt about her. That was why she had to talk to him.

Lex found new determination from her thoughts and apparently it showed outwardly, since Stealth tilted his head in a curious manner. The woman didn't know what else to do so she cut straight to the case, surprisingly boldly for a person who was being hung helplessly on the wall.

"Please, let me go. I beg you; I have to talk to him. I'll prove how different you two are."

The predator couldn't have been more surprised by the woman's insolence. Lex wasn't sure how to interpret the silence, but tried to continue persuading. She never got past the first word. A sharp sting in her shoulder made all of her arguments disappear. The woman looked stupefied at the two blades that had gone through of her black sweater.

Then she seemed to grasp what had happened. Stealth's wristblades had sunk into her soft skin under the collarbone. Not that deep, but deep enough to hurt.

"Let you go?" The predator practically purred, seeing the shocked expression on the woman's face. "And why… would I do that?"

The blades went slowly a little deeper, forcing a pained moan out of Lex's mouth. She was taking quick, shallow breaths and trying to keep her thoughts concentrated, fearing for her life more than ever.

"I need… to… talk to him."

A little deeper.

"Let go of her you monster!!"

The shout took both of them by surprise. Stealth pulled his wristblades free and turned partly, holding the trembling woman still by her wrists.

Lex screamed as the blades came out, opening the wounds more. From behind the predator she saw a glimpse of blond hair and a thin arm. At first she was grateful for the interference, but after thinking again she started to feel frustrated for the young man's recklessness. She had risked her life to save him and now despite the fact that he had almost died a moment ago, he was seriously going to confront the warrior again.

"Let her go!" Mark repeated. "You haven't gotten rid of me yet."

Lex would have wanted to go and smack that fool. It seemed, though that Stealth was about to do that himself.

The predator answered the challenge with a growl. He cast one last look at the woman and let her hands fall down so he could focus entirely on the new challenger. Lex remained still, leaning against the wall and feeling her shoulder carefully with her uninjured hand. Her practical side was aware that the bleeding would have to be stopped soon, but it was overruled by her emotional side that insisted that she would help the young man. Except that now she was unarmed and injured. What could she do to get both of them out of there alive?

Stealth stepped towards the man, circling around him. Mark glanced at the woman, worried and obviously not knowing what he was doing. A nervous smile appeared on his face fleetingly, trying to convince them that everything would be just fine. Surprisingly it wasn't calming either one of them.

Lex felt slightly relieved, however that the man wasn't fighting with bare hands. He had picked up the combispear she had lost earlier and even though he didn't know how to extend it, it was definitely better than nothing. He had also something that looked like a weapon on his other hand. After pondering a while the woman came to the conclusion that it was a tazer. Not necessarily the most effective weapon against a huge and thick-skinned warrior.

But there was nothing else they could have used. For the first time Lex took a good look around in the hall they had come into. White was the dominating colour again, but here it was softened by black and metallic cables and pipes that were crisscrossing on the walls. Also several crates and tanks were lying around the hall.

Right then Mark charged forward, making the woman admit that at least he wasn't lacking courage. Common sense was another story. The predator didn't even flinch when the man started his attack; he simply stood with his hands down, as if mocking him. Just before the spear would have hit its target, Stealth dodged easily aside and stopped the young man by grabbing his head so that his narrow face was almost completely covered by the hunter's hand.

Mark yelped in surprise and started a panicked struggle against the firm grip. He was flailing blindly with the spear, making a small cut on the warrior's arm. The weapon was yanked off of the man's hand, leaving him only with the tazer that wouldn't probably do him any good.

"Mark!"

Believing that his end was near, the man turned the current on and as a last resort, stuck the tazer into the same arm. Something unexpected happened.

Lex watched, holding her breath, as the man accidentally made a brilliant move. Instead of uselessly hitting the predator with the small electric device, he hit his sensitive and very important wristcomputer. Sparks were flying and so was almost the woman as she sprung into action. Pain was meaningless, now they might have a chance to escape.

Mark realized that something had happened, but even though he could suddenly see again, he had no idea what he had done. He just knew that for some reason the monster wasn't attacking him. It was fortunate for the man that Lex was there; otherwise he might have kept on standing there and wondering. The woman ran as fast as she could to Mark and pushed him not very gently.

"Run! What are you waiting for?!"

Lex retrieved the fallen spear, hoping to have estimated the situation correctly. The warrior wasn't paying any attention to the anymore, that much she knew. How badly had the shock damaged his wristdevice? Time seemed to have slowed down dramatically, though in reality, everything happened in a few seconds. Even the injured hand didn't bother the woman for a while when she pulled Mark away from the predator. They ran without daring to look back; fearing what they might see if they did. Out of the hall and through a corridor that led deeper into the mysterious construction.

An annoyingly familiar problem was testing Stealth's nerves. The humans had managed to break his wristdevice for the second time in one day and he didn't have time to fix it now. He tried adjusting the vision settings a couple of times, but finally had to remove his mask to see something. By then, his prey had vanished.

Stealth retracted his wristblades and rubbed the shoulder that the woman had wounded. It was stinging a bit, but he knew it would heal soon. The injuries that the woman had suffered would bother her considerably more. The predator was half-irritated, half-amused by her peculiar ability to constantly get out of threatening situations. Or mainly getting away from him.

The anger caused by the woman's surprise attack had faded long ago. What was left were excitement from the hunt and curiosity. Stealth was eager to see how long the woman could keep on fighting him.


	15. What to do?

Aarghh, this became longer than it should have. Thank you thank you thank you for reading and commenting! :D

**moonchaser8: **Oh no, too many compliments, now i can't stop smiling like an idiot. xD But thank you, it makes me really happy to see that i've managed to write a story that other people enjoy too.

**Elunara:** Yes, he is. XD And now i started wondering, what kind of a history he has with the opposite sex. It's hard to imagine what he's like towards yautja females. :P

**Karau: **Yeah, i'm starting to think that he's getting soft too. Just wait 'till he realizes that himself. x)

**Taladarkiejj: **Well, Mark's fate still hangs in the balance. Heh, teaming up and kicking Stealth's butt would be funny. xD

**Harlequin Jade: **Don't worry, i'm starting to miss Scar myself, so he'll probably be appearing any time now. ;)

* * *

Lex's heart was nearly bursting from the tension, as she and Mark were running randomly through the strange, white corridors. The beginning feeling of relief that got stronger as they got more distance between them and the predator, intermixed with mild concern about the fact that they had no clue where they were going.

Lex had automatically moved in front and was leading them instinctively. It didn't really matter where they would end up, they just wanted to get as far away from Stealth as possible.

Losing blood was, however, taking effect and soon the woman felt her feet starting to get heavier. She realized that she couldn't go on for much longer. Surprisingly, her run didn't end because of exhaustion, but because of a man dashing from around the corner.

The force of the impact threw Lex backwards, causing her to knock Mark over too. The notably big man they had collided with, let out a surprised sound, before recognizing the faces in front of him.

"What the…! What are you running around in here for? Especially you", the man said strictly, pointing at Lex. "You shouldn't even be here."

This time it was Mark, who jumped to action first. He quickly helped the woman up, the whole time continuously turning to look behind them.

"Umm, Keith… We have a little problem."

Lex rolled her eyes at the understatement of the year.

"You call that a **little** problem?"

Mark shrugged submissively.

"Alright, we have an **enormous** problem."

Keith had already seen the spear in the woman's hand and noticed the green traces that looked suspiciously much like blood. He slapped his hand on his forehead and sighed.

"How do I always get into these situations? For crying out loud, I left you alone only for a few minutes. How can you manage to get in trouble in such a short while?"

Then he saw the nasty-looking bruise on Lex's hand.

"What happened to you? Who beat you up?"

Mark shuddered and looked over his shoulder once again.

"Not who, but what. We have to get out of these corridors soon or it will find us."

Keith's angular face paled in a second. Startling the young man he grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him like he was an undisciplined school boy.

"Don't tell me that you got one of the doors near the elevator open! Did you touch anything? Hell, was it one of those things that attacked you?"

"W-what?" Mark managed to say, completely clueless of what the bigger man was talking about.

Lex stared at the two men, an indescribable, bad feeling steadily growing in her mind.

"What's in those rooms?" She asked in a quiet voice, suspecting that she wouldn't want to know. As if things weren't going badly enough.

Keith seemed to calm down after hearing the woman's question, since it revealed that they truly hadn't gone into the rooms. He patted Mark on the shoulders a couple of times to apologize and looked at Lex with the most bizarre expression.

"Trust me, all you need to know is that you seriously don't want to go there."

Every one of them had a bunch of questions to ask from each other, but no time for them. Soft footsteps echoed through the long corridors, silencing even Keith and giving Lex and Mark goosebumps. Had the predator found them already? The woman rushed to the nearest door, thanking the heavens that it was unlocked.

"Quickly here", she whispered, watching the end of the corridor alertly, expecting to see the form of the vengeful warrior. Keith hesitated at first, put let Mark push him into the room without much resistance. There they stood in the dark, holding their breaths in order to hear better what was going on outside.

"I wonder why I'm playing along", the big man muttered, receiving two angry hushes. Silence descended again, though Lex was certain that the pounding of her heart carried into everyone's ears. They didn't hear the steps anymore, which was nerve-racking. If she had learned anything from horror movies, it was that in similar situations the killer was always waiting behind the door when it was that silent.

A terrible spinning feeling suddenly hit Lex and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop it. The room was unpleasantly warm, making her sweat inside the thick coat. She took it off with some difficulty caused by her hurting hand and let it fall to the floor.

"Mark…" The woman called, vaguely aware of how weak her voice sounded. She didn't hear if anyone answered. She collapsed before either of the men noticed that something was wrong.

* * *

It was difficult to tell how long she was unconscious. Little by little Lex came to, her mind blissfully empty, though her body was aching in various places.

Seeing Keith, however, made her memory work again, too well in her opinion. The man was on his knees beside her, fiddling with something when he noticed that she was awake.

"Perfect timing, I just got this done."

Lex was about to ask, what he was talking about, but then she saw Mark standing a little further away, facing the wall. The woman's inquiring eyes turned to Keith, who in turn began scolding her.

"Why didn't you say that you were injured this badly? Or did you think that a minor thing like dying wouldn't stop you? Here by the way…" The man handed her something that looked a lot like her sweater.

Lex's head started to clear up fast after she realized that it really was her sweater and that her upper body was awkwardly bare. Swallowing the anger that had risen because of her humiliating state, she snatched the piece of clothing and sat up slowly. A skilfully wrapped bandage was now covering her wounds that had stopped bleeding.

"Thank you", the woman stated briefly as she struggled to get the sweater back on, but couldn't help adding a sarcastic: "I guess."

The big man cracked a dirty smile, luring a smile on Lex's face too. A smile that got even wider when Mark asked shyly, if he could turn around already. He got the permission and came to sit next to the woman, immediately starting to talk.

"I'm sorry, I didn't remember at all, how inured you were. I could only think of running when I heard those footsteps. It went past us, so it was probably some worker. You really gave us quite a scare by collapsing so suddenly, but luckily we found a first-aid kit from your backpack. Keith is actually pretty good in these things, though I wouldn't have believed that of him in the beginning."

At that point the big man felt that he had had enough and interrupted Mark's diarrhea of the mouth.

"Yes, you were fortunate", he admitted with a serious face. "But now it's time for you to shed some light on the recent events. Mark told me what happened to you two. Your turn to tell me how the hell are you involved in all of this?"

The young man thought that Keith was being a little too hard on the woman. He tried to say something about that, but the bigger man cast a warning look that made him shut up right away. Lex rubbed her aching hand, searching for answers from somewhere on the floor.

"For you to be able to understand, I guess I have to start from where it all began for me."

The woman once again brought back the memories of the horrors of Antarctica, taking her time and considering carefully what to tell them. She left her feelings about Scar somewhat unclear, as well as his feelings towards her. Those were things that really were unclear, so she wasn't lying.

Finally Lex ended her story with how the other predators had come to take the wounded warrior home. The woman breathed deeply, feeling for the first time that the burden of her memories had been lifted. She had had no clue of how much she had wanted to talk to someone about the things that had happened.

The men sat still, amazed by what they had heard. Mark was childishly wondering, but Keith's face was grave. Lex decided to continue, before the inevitable questions would get loose.

"And now, about a year after that, we meet again here. As some sort of friends, I might add. Of course I know that he hunts like the rest of his kind, but at least he listens to me. The only problem was another hunter that had come with him."

"The one, who attacked us, right?" Mark asked. Lex nodded, rubbing her hand again, without even realizing it.

"Yes, Stealth. He doesn't care about humans one bit, except when hunting them or…"

The woman had to pause to think how to put her own experiences with the unpredictable predator into words.

"…Or when they're useful or somehow amusing."

That was the best summary that Lex could come up with. Just thinking of Stealth made her so uncomfortable that the men noticed her trembling. They didn't say anything, just waited until she was ready to talk again.

"So", she said, wanting to get rid of the subject fast. "In a nutshell, you ambushed Scar, I went to ask for help from Stealth and eventually our opinions clashed, leading us into this situation."

Keith looked at her attentively and spoke for the first time in a while, bringing up the incident that she would have liked to forget.

"I heard that you were attacked in the woods too. Was it the same guy? And why instead of killing you, he agreed to help you?"

"That's right", Mark exclaimed, remembering something. "I was sure that he was going to kill you, when you stabbed him. But then he started talking. He did also hurt you, probably even was going to kill you, but before that, for a minute I thought that you are either extremely lucky, or he likes you."

The latter the young man had intended as a joke, so he said it with some laughter in his voice. Lex wasn't laughing. She stared at Mark, looking so shocked that he was afraid she might pass out again. The moment was soon over and the woman blinked like she had awakened from a bad dream.

"Are you alright?" The youngster asked, pondering what had caused such a reaction in the woman. Lex smiled obviously forcibly.

"Sorry, something unpleasant just came to my mind. And I still feel a little shaky."

"Well no-one can blame you", Mark nodded, sincerely happy that the woman appeared to be fine. "We shouldn't have demanded so much from you so soon with the injuries you have."

Keith sighed very loudly and frustrated.

"Aren't you forgetting something now?"

They could practically see the question mark hovering over Mark's head.

"She's an unauthorized intruder in a private area, so we definitely should question her."

"Ooh…"

"Hopeless case", the man mumbled, rubbing his face.

Lex couldn't be worried when listening to those two. Somehow she felt that not even Keith, despite his words, was that thrilled about imprisoning her.

"So what are you going to do?"

The big man sat there thinking, his hand still on his face. He was clearly struggling inside.

"Keeeith…" Mark appealed, using his most powerful weapon: puppy eyes.

"For the love of… Will you stop that!" Keith snapped, doing everything possible to suppress the hint of a smile that almost appeared from seeing the ridiculous expression. The kid was impossible.

Lex couldn't even think of letting Stealth hurt that sweet youngster anymore. She would absolutely not allow that to happen. The woman watched Keith as he rose up and escaped from **the **eyes, by turning his back at them and walking slowly around in the spacious room, dodging tables and chairs. Only then she noticed her backpack that had been lying next to the man, the combispear leaning against it. Stretching out her arm, she grabbed them and placed the spear back into the pack, at the same time waiting for the man to make a decision.

Keith was thinking out loud, going through the situation. The predator roaming freely in the building was his main concern. It would have to be stopped before someone would wind up dead. Lex couldn't bring herself to tell that someone had already gotten killed.

All three of them startled when Keith's walkie-talkie without a warning let out a static noise.

"Keith! Are you there?"

The man froze for a second, but answered then.

"I'm here, what's the problem?"

"We've lost contact to the guys in eastern corridors. It seems like no-one knows, what's going on in here. Have you seen anything?"

"…No. But I'll go check, if I can find anyone."

Okay, let me know then. And I recommend you to be cautious."

"Cautious is my middle name."

The silence that the conversation left in the room was deeper than any other they had had. They all knew what was going on and who was behind it all. Talking in peace with other people had distracted Lex for a moment from thinking about the life threatening danger that had been present since her arrival to the forest. Now it had returned, stalking not only her, but everyone else down there. And she still felt responsible for that.

Keith stepped further away from Lex and Mark, cursing devoutly and aware that they were waiting for his decision. He turned to face them, but stopped suddenly to stare at an unexpected sight through a window close to him.

He motioned for the others to come look too. They could see that some kind of an idea was forming in his head.

"Are you sure…" He meant his words for the woman that Mark was helping to get on her feet. "…that you can trust this… Scar?"

Lex was bewildered by the sudden question.

"Yes, I'm sure. Why do you ask?"

Keith didn't take his eyes off of the window.

"I'm responsible for everyone's safety here. Of two evils, that so called friend of yours seems to be the lesser."

The woman still didn't get what he was trying to say, but walked curiously in front of the window.

What she saw, awakened more emotions that she had believed was possible to feel simultaneously. Keith finally revealed his thoughts.

"Since our chances to survive on our own seem quite slim, maybe we should fight fire with fire. Do you think he would be willing to help us, if we got him out of there?"

The woman heard everything that was said to her, but she was having troubles understanding it. All of her attention had been stolen by a figure laying in the centre of the other room.

What had they done to Scar?!

Lex stared in disbelief and horror at the machines that the proud warrior had been attached to. His armour had been removed, leaving him only with his loincloth (a sight that in different circumstances would have made her blush). Weird electric wires and tubes covered his bare body almost entirely. The woman could see that the predator was in great pain, by the way he was twitching violently and breathing heavily, clearly hanging on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Did you know that he was in there?" Lex demanded, her face had turned white. "Did you know the whole time what they were doing to him?!"

"No", Keith said repulsed by the cruelty of the devices. "I bet Vincent has gone solo on this one. We'll let Antonio know about all of this. He'll listen to your story, I'm sure."

The man was reaching for the walkie-talkie straight away, but the woman had no intention of waiting when Scar was so close at last. She couldn't wait. When she would get to him, everything would turn out fine. She had to believe that.

Keith managed only to yell after Lex, as she ran to the door, barely remembering to take her backpack with her. She didn't waste one thought on her torn coat that the men had taken off when treating her wounds.

"What are you doing?!" Mark also shouted at her, not sure if he should follow her or not.

"Freeing Scar!" Lex announced, so determined that the men couldn't say anything to that.

"Lex, wait! You can't just…" The rest fell on deaf ears and the woman rushed out of the door. She was so close, all she had to do was find the door leading to the room and avoid bumping into anyone anymore.

She continued to the direction she had earlier been going to. There were no doors in the corridor she was in, but maybe around the corner.

"Lex!!" Mark shouted again from the doorway. His voice sounded so alarmed that the woman stopped in her tracks. She realized that in the rush of excitement, she had made a critical mistake.

Turning reluctantly, she faced her worst nightmare. The dark figure of the hunter stood on the other end of the corridor, staring at her intensively. Lex began to feel faint again, her mind screaming how unfair it was. She had been **so** close and now…

Scar could as well have been on the other side of the world. There was no way she could get to him now.


	16. Misfortune after another

Whoa, i have know idea why it took me this long to write anything, but here it is. I had to split the chapter i was writing in two since it was becoming too long. But the good news is that i'll put the second part here maybe already in a week. Thank you for having the patience to keep on reading, though i'm such a lazy bum. XD

**Mixchocolate: **I believe too that Stealth might be jealous. He's still young and immature. ;D Thank you and don't worry, Scar and Lex will meet soon... x)

**KittynJenn:** Thanks! They're both bad, but Stealth expresses his sadistic side more often. ;)

**SC Girl:** They will be reunited soon, but just wait and see how. xD I think Stealth is still a young and confused predator who needs to find some better ways of taking out his frustration. :D

**hunterthewerewolf: **Thank you for giving such a great rewiev, it made my day. :D

**shadowglove:** Heh! Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. ;D

**Elunara:** Well, Stealth probably thinks that Scar can take care of himself and if he can't then he deserves his fate for being weak. But what he feels for Lex is complicated. :)

**OSR4ever:** Thaanks! Yep, he's bad, but you never know, he might be just hiding his softer side. ;D

**Taladarkiejj:** Thank you! I guess everyone's been waiting for Scar to come back and beat the living hell out of Stealth. xD

**Crooked:** Thankies! I'm glad that you noticed that, Stealth _is_ more amused than angry. And Scar will make his comeback really soon. I originally meant it to be sooner, but it got delayed a little. :D

I dooo not own Scar or Lex.

This chapter contains some bad language.

* * *

Nobody moved a muscle. Lex didn't dare, believing that even the slightest movement would trigger the frozen situation. She was pretty sure Mark was thinking the same. Both of them stood paralyzed, like trapped mice that were waiting for the snake to strike. Though Lex wasn't exactly trapped, she knew that if she would turn around and run to free Scar, Stealth would kill the two men before she could make it back.

Oh, how she hated that coldblooded warrior and that half-calculating, half-amused look that he was giving them. She really hated him from the bottom of her heart. It was once again impossible to tell, what was going on in the hunter's head, but it was clear that he knew what the woman was thinking.

Stealth could smell the fear that had taken a hold of Lex. Nevertheless he didn't believe for a minute that she would give up without a fight. She wasn't the type to do that, unlike the humans he had ran into a while ago. What a waste of time they had been. The woman, on the other hand, had something in her that excited his curiosity. She was persistent and bold, loyal to a fault, but certain words or touch made her shake like a leaf. Stealth was starting to understand why Scar had wanted her to himself. Who knew how much more fun she would prove to be.

Keith had also heard the youngster's yell and immediately guessed what was going on. He rushed to the door after grabbing something handy along with him. Mark could hardly take his eyes off of the menacing warrior, when the big man appeared behind him.

"That's one ugly son of a bitch."

Keith put his hand on the young man's shoulder and lowered his voice, at the same time keeping a close eye on the predator.

"Listen to me carefully Mark. I want you to go and get some tranquilizer guns from the nearest storage room. Do you know where it is?"

Mark shook his head, looking anxious. "What are you thinking? You can't fight that thing. Why don't we all go get them?"

"We have no guarantee that we're going to make it even with guns. Those bastards are smart, there's a chance that the same trick won't work twice. I believe it's better that we provide Lex with the time to free her friend."

Keith dug out a card from his pocket and gave it to the youngster. "Give this keycard to her and tell her to be quick about it. As for you, turn left at the end of the corridor, then straight until you come into a large hall. You'll find the storage room there."

Mark made a vain effort to protest, but he was pushed towards the woman's direction. When he turned to look back, he saw that the big man was holding a foam extinguisher. He also saw that Stealth had slowly started approaching. If he had known the hunter as well as Lex, he would have known that he was doing everything intentionally. The waiting and the slow, lurking walk were all meant to raise more fear in his prey before he would attack.

"Go already!" Keith commanded. "Don't you worry about me; I don't feel like dying today."

Lex couldn't hear what the men were talking about, but she could guess. She was about to go back, even though she knew she wouldn't be of any help, when Mark instead started running in her direction. The woman stared shocked at Keith who was now standing alone in the path of the predator. That fool was going to get himself killed!

"Lex, take this", Mark spoke before he had even got to her. "This will open the door to the lab for you. I'll go look for the tranquilizer guns."

Keith glanced behind and saw the woman staring at him. He nodded to verify what he knew that the youngster had just told her. Then he turned his back on them and stepped right into the middle of the corridor. Stealth didn't stop.

Lex desperately wanted to come up with some way to spare the man from the dangerous plan, but she couldn't think of anything less risky. The worried woman had to silence her fears and follow Mark to the end of the corridor. There they were supposed to split up, but Lex couldn't go without looking back once more.

"Don't die!" She shouted briefly.

Keith only waved his hand, his eyes focused on the threat ahead. For a man that big, he still seemed small compared to the enormous hunter. Mark had the same concern on his face since he knew he'd be leaving the man to fight for his life. They didn't waste anymore time. The youngster wished good luck to Lex and in a moment, Keith had been left alone with the predator.

Stealth watched the woman disappear again and couldn't shake off the feeling of disappointment. The human that was clearly standing in his way, seemed like a worthy opponent, but he had expected the woman to stay too. The warrior scolded himself mentally. Patience was usually one of his strong points.

After all, the woman's leaving shouldn't have been a surprise. Stealth knew that she was still determined to free Scar, so she had most likely gone to search for him. Like that would do any good. The fate of the human that had challenged him would be sealed in a couple of minutes, if he wouldn't decide to prolong it.

Keith smiled gloomily. Here he was, about to engage into a deadly battle with, according to Lex, a skilled and damn sadistic humanoid-hunter, and he was armed with a foam extinguisher. Somehow he felt that it wouldn't do him much good.

The man didn't have anymore time for pondering as the predator strode the last few yards in front of him, looking like he was simply going to walk over him. With admirable calmness Keith waited until the last possible moment before spraying the warrior's face full of foam. Stealth was caught badly off guard by the strange substance that blocked his vision. He took a step back, covering his face with his arm. The man couldn't have hoped for a better opportunity.

He gripped the extinguisher tighter and whacked it straight to the predator's unprotected abdomen.

He could have hit a brick wall and have better results. The task would be a little harder than anticipated.

The ineffectiveness of the attack had distracted Keith so much that he didn't realize, until in the nick of time to back away from the warrior's reach. A powerful hand with crushing force, swung the air just mere inches away from his face. The man's thoughts ran wild and so did his heart. The best strategy would simply be not getting hit.

Simply.

Stealth swept his face, considering the man's attempt so ridiculous that he didn't even bother to get angry. He sneered and moved his hand behind his back where he kept some of his equipment. Keith clenched his teeth when he saw the hunter taking out a same kind of spear that Lex had carried with her and extending it from a little over three feet to twice as long.

Shit…

* * *

Lex flew through the corridors, hoping to make it without being noticed. The least of all she wanted to draw attention now that she was so close to Scar. It was already a miracle that she had only run into Mark and Keith. The thought of them made Lex run faster.

The woman kept going and finally a promising-looking door came into sight. It had to be the right one, for she was pretty sure that if she continued much further, she would end up going a full circle.

The cause and the solution for all of Lex's current problems was waiting behind this one door and knowing that gave her butterflies in her stomach. Even though she wanted nothing more than to find Scar again, the fulfilment of that wish meant that now she would have to face the uncertain future. She was clueless about what to do when they would get back above ground.

Fear, however, proved to be weaker than the gradually rising feeling of joy. Even with all of her doubts, Lex had somehow missed the large warrior. She could still remember what his strong arms felt like around her. As soon as she would get him out, everything would turn out just fine. She concentrated on these thoughts and put the card into the device next to the door.

--Access denied--

The blunt words that appeared onto the screen were all Greek to Lex at first. Then the meaning of them struck into her consciousness.

"No, no, no, it can't be…"

The woman tried to swallow her disappointment, but it was just too much.

"Fuck!!"

Lex tried the card again, with the same result. The door stayed locked.

"I don't believe this… Fucking fuck!"

Tears filled the woman's eyes, making everything look blurry. Hadn't she already had enough hardships for one day? Keith could die because of this.

Lex slammed her fist to the door so hard that it hurt. Would she have to go back with nothing and leave Scar to suffer, even though only one stinking door was separating them? She hit the door again angrily, but was unexpectedly startled by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"You're going to break your fingers, if you keep doing that."

The woman spun around and saw the expressionless face of Antonio studying her. Lex didn't know what to say. She had just been caught red-handed. The man shook his head and suddenly looked very angry.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here?"

So Antonio was mad at her, because he was worried of her. The woman felt another sting of guilt, thinking of the mess she had already involved too many people in. She raised her hands defensively and was about to explain something vague, when the man took her hand on his own.

"What happened to you? You're hurt."

Lex pulled her hand back, glaring Antonio with a 'this is actually all your fault' –expression. His question got her to remember her hurry. She didn't have time to explain everything.

"Antonio, Keith is fighting for his life as we speak and he's not the only one in danger. Everyone down here will be killed, if I don't do anything."

"I don't know what the problem is, but I can't believe you think this will help?!" The man raised his voice, pointing at the door in front of them. "Those things are savages, they don't care what happens to us."

Lex's eyes were blazing as she replied equally angry:

"Who are you to talk about savagery? I saw what you're doing to him over there."

Antonio frowned. "What are you talking about? We've taken some tissue samples. You make it sound like we've cut him to pieces. Have you happened to notice how fast they can heal themselves? Just imagine how much we can learn by studying them."

The woman snorted at the man's ignorance. "Go see for yourself what's really going on."

Lex was beginning to feel increasingly more sure that Antonio truly didn't have a clue of what was going on around him. She looked him earnestly in the eyes and spoke with a softer voice:

"You always trusted me, when we were together. Please trust me just this one more time. I'll explain everything later, I promise, but now we have to hurry."

The man rubbed his head, muttering something incoherent about a migraine and insanity. Then he, much to the joy of the woman, took out his own keycard and stepped closer to the door.

"Well, who is Keith fighting then? Whoever it is, I'm sure he'll manage better than you seem to think."

Lex made a face behind the man's back, knowing how he would react when she would tell him.

"Do you remember when you and Vincent found me in a bit of a tight spot back in the woods?"

Antonio froze for a moment, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything.

"I remember that this 'friend' of yours was all over you when we arrived there and now, for some reason, I'm going to let you into the same room with him."

"Well…" Lex stalled, which made the man turn to look at her with a bad feeling.

"The one you saw there… wasn't Scar."

"What?!" Antonio exclaimed, understanding immediately where the woman was getting at. "There are more than one of them here!"

"Just two. And unfortunately you imprisoned the wrong one. Keith sent Mark to fetch those tranquilizer guns, but they might not be enough."

Distress could be heard in Lex's voice, even though she tried to control it. "You understand why I have to get into that room?"

The man sighed. "I understand, but I can't open that door."

"Why not?!" The woman snapped, her patience growing thin.

Antonio waved the card in his hand. "This didn't work either."

The man kept talking, but Lex didn't listen. She was busy pondering what she had done to deserve this. It was like some unknown, cruel force was controlling her life and trying to complicate it in every possible way. Whatever it was, she refused to give up.

"Lex, what are you… Wait! I was just about to call Vincent…!"

The woman vanished behind the corner in an instant, leaving the swearing Antonio standing there with a walkie-talkie in his hand.


	17. Negotiating

Damn! Didn't make it in a week, but almost. This too came a little longer than it was supposed to be, i can never end a chapter where i want. But thank you for the nice comments on the last chapter, though that took forever to write. ;P

**lamyka:** Thanks for the compliments. When i started thinking about it, Scar and Stealth are just like two bad puppies. xD

**Slicer:** Heh! Sorry, i promise the teasing's almost over. ;)

**blood shifter:** Thanks! I don't know about the high actioned fighting yet, but there's a time for that too. :D

**hunterthewerewolf:** And there, you made my day again. :D Thank you very much!

**Harlequin Jade:** Oh no, i haven't actually thought of that much. :) I just presumed when i started writing this that they would be about the same age. But it's true, Stealth seems to be acting much more immaturely.

**Crooked:** Many thanksies! xD Well, she just might. In a weird way they are bound to each other at least until Scar comes back.

**Taladarkiejj:** Yeah, sorry about that. xP And thanks!

**KittynJenn: **Glad you liked it. :) I just thought i should give him _something_ that it would be at least a little fairer.

**XNightxRiderX:** Yeah, he is. But i still like him too. ;D

**VoodooQueen:** Thank you! Try to hang on, it will happen sooon. ;)

Don't really know if this is necessary, but i still don't own Lex nor Scar.

* * *

The corridors were too quiet. Lex was expecting to hear sounds of the battle as she got closer to the final turn, but she was welcomed only by a deathly silence. She hoped that wouldn't be literally the case.

That hope seemed to diminish rapidly as Lex sneaked to where the fight was supposed to be going on. The white corridor wasn't plain white anymore. The walls and the floor were stained by blood. She could even make out partial hand and footprints. Further away lay the abandoned fire extinguisher that the man had used as a weapon. It had two puncture holes on its side and some foam still dripping on the floor. Overall, the scene was almost like a strange, twisted piece of art.

Lex wanted to cover her eyes and turn away, but she had already noticed a track of blood leading to the other corridor, where Mark had went. Keith was probably forced to retreat. She would have to go after him and do everything in her power to keep anyone from dying. Presuming that it wouldn't be too late.

"Oh my God…" Antonio gasped, having followed the woman. He rushed to her side, relieved that they hadn't found a body in the middle of all the blood. The relief lasted only until the man saw Lex's face, white as a sheet. During the time they had dated, Antonio had gotten used to seeing the woman always strong and in control of situations. Now it seemed like she was using all of her willpower to just keeping calm.

He placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"You're scared."

"Hm-mm."

"But you're not going to walk away from this?"

"No."

The man sighed, making his decision. "That's what I thought. Then we better get going."

Lex watched slightly surprised as Antonio went ahead. It felt like the burden on her shoulders had simultaneously become lighter and on the other hand heavier. For a fleeting moment she had a feeling that she had sentenced the man to his death. But still she was happy that she wasn't alone.

"Well, did you talk to Vincent?"

Antonio glanced at the woman, looking thoughtful.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Though it wasn't really what I would call enlightening. He just said that he would take care of everything, whatever he meant by that."

The woman knitted her brows, suspecting something. She didn't trust that man anymore than she trusted Stealth. They would have to wait and see what he was planning.

* * *

Apparently the fight was still going on. Antonio and Lex had followed the random traces of blood and ended up in a same kind of a hall that the one where Stealth had attacked Mark. Four pillars formed a quadrangle in the centre of the hall and on the wall, near the ceiling, was a wide window, probably an observation room.

The door had been closed, but still they had clearly heard a scream, before sneaking in. Lex recognized Mark's voice and instantly feared the worst. She reached for her spear, swearing to do everything possible to help the others. If only she had used her earlier possibilities to try to kill the predator instead of just wounding him and running away, nobody would have had to suffer because of him.

Antonio too became highly alert when he heard Mark and saw the woman getting ready to fight. He was about to restrain her, until they could think of a plan, but then another yell, this time from a woman's mouth, stopped him.

"Leave him alone you fucking assface freak of nature!"

Antonio and Lex looked at each other and whispered simultaneously: "Annie."

Right after the door there were big piles of crates on both sides that blocked the view. They couldn't see anyone from behind them. Both of them knew how stupid it would be to go there without some kind of a plan, but soon they might not have a choice.

Antonio would have wanted to tell the woman to stay hidden, but he didn't seriously think she would do as told. And he was most likely in greater danger since he didn't have any weapons. Despite the rush a daring idea started forming in the man's mind.

"Wait here, Lex", he spoke quickly with a low voice. "I'll lure that SOB here and you'll nail his ass with that spear. And if…" Antonio added dead serious. "If something goes wrong, get out of here, okay? Don't worry about the rest of us; I'll make sure the others get away. But I can't watch you get hurt."

The man's seriousness changed into a familiar, playful grin when he suddenly leaned closer to the woman and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Lex was left staring speechless. How could the man be so infuriating and lovable at the same time? His plan had better work, for she could never in a million years just leave them.

"Come back soon, so I can smack you for that."

The woman's friendly threat brought another grin on Antonio's face. He waved his hand and disappeared behind the corner. Lex removed his backpack to be able to move more freely and gripped her extended spear tighter, waiting for her turn.

* * *

The situation became clear to Antonio in one look. The hall had a dimmer lighting than the corridors, but it was enough for him to see everyone. Keith was nearest to him, lying in front of one of the pillars. The man had gone through quite a beating and it didn't seem likely that he could continue the fight or even stand up anymore. His hand was pressed against his bloody side.

The others weren't doing much better. Mark was also down, possibly unconscious and as they had thought, Annie was with him. The woman had kneeled beside the youngster, holding a knife in her hand. Antonio could see even from afar that she was actually shaking from anger.

One of the piles next to the wall had fallen over and the scattered crates were the only thing separating the humans from the hunter.

Stealth was beginning to get bored. The fight had been pretty interesting for a while, but humans were so weak and fragile. These hadn't even been armed properly so he had put away his spear and used only his bare hands to make it a little more interesting. Still they hadn't lasted for long. Two of them were already on the ground and the last one left was a small female.

Stealth walked closer to the crates, observing his adversary that was obviously angry and ready to take him on. For a second, he thought of Lex. He wondered if the woman had found her protector. If she had, he couldn't have fun with her anymore. Maybe he should try switching to this human.

The predator stopped in front of the crates and crouched to the seemingly fearless woman's level. They had only a little over two yards between them. Stealth tilted his head, trying to think what to do with her.

Annie had no idea what the humanoid warrior was thinking. All she could think was that he would get to Mark only over her dead body.

"Leave him alone!" The woman yelled again, raising the knife higher.

"You heard her!" A man's voice verified. "Leave both of them be."

Stealth got up and saw that yet another human had come to die.

"Hi!" Antonio said cheerily. "You remember me?"

The predator's eyes narrowed. Like he would forget the two humans that had dishonoured him by making him retreat from a battle. He would have this human's head, whether he was armed or not.

Annie had also been surprised by the unexpected interference, so she wasn't prepared when Stealth turned back to her and put his foot against the nearest crate. With a powerful move he kicked the heavy object, causing it to hit both the woman and the young man.

Antonio froze, fearing that they had been hurt, but he had no choice but to put his worry aside, for the warrior was already heading his way. They would get only one chance, so there was no room for mistakes. The man stared backing away slowly, not daring to look behind him, in case he might somehow reveal something.

"Umm… couldn't we talk about this?" He acted, without having to pretend the part of being nervous. Stealth didn't take his eyes off him. Then Antonio noticed that there were no crates on his side anymore. He had to concentrate hard on not looking at Lex. Just a little further.

When the predator was only a few yards away, the man changed direction. He moved further from the woman, trying to make the warrior turn his back on her. At the same time he kept playing his part, turning his head from side to side as if looking for a weapon.

It seemed to be working and Antonio couldn't stop himself from glancing at Lex anymore. Right then she raised the spear, ready to strike.

Neither of them knew what went wrong.

Lex had seen an opportunity and didn't hesitate to take it this time. For some reason, however, the spear never made contact with its target. By the moment the woman realized that the predator had dodged, he had grabbed the other end of the spear. Stealth only needed to tug once to make Lex lose her balance and fall right into his arms.

Now things were getting interesting.

The woman panicked and tried to get away, but as she had come to see on too many occasions, escaping from the hunter's iron grip wasn't that easy. Soon she stopped struggling and cast a defiant look at the predator to hide her fear. Stealth seemed pleased by that.

"Poor little slave… did you really think… you could sneak up on me?"

The predator shifted his grip on the woman's arm so that he could stroke the wound on her shoulder with his thumb.

"If you wouldn't… constantly… oppose me… Scar would be free by now."

Lex realized that the warrior was toying with her once again. Just what did he want from her? Or was he just plain evil?

After being caught the woman had forgotten all about the others. When she remembered that Antonio was still somewhere close, she tried to see what he was doing. For her horror he was clearly planning something reckless. The man was eyeing the spear that had fallen behind Stealth. He would have probably made a dash to get it, if Lex hadn't done anything.

"A- Antonio", the woman warned, her voice quivering a bit. She felt the predator's gaze as he waited to find out what she was doing. The man stared at her also, with a surprised face.

"Go see how Keith is doing."

Now Antonio really looked surprised. He opened his mouth for an angry protest, but seeing Lex's pleading eyes left him without words. If the woman hadn't been hiding her fear so well, he hardly would have even considered obeying her request, but all he could see in her eyes was determination.

Slowly the man nodded hoping that Lex knew what she was doing. That was what she was hoping too.

The woman sighed relieved in her mind as Antonio moved further from them. She didn't want him doing anything dangerous. Not now when she had a feeling that the warrior might listen to what she had to say. Placing your life on a feeling is never the smartest move, but their chances in a fight weren't any better. So Lex decided to go for it and get the most vital question out of the way.

"You've been toying with me the whole day. Are you going to kill me or not?"

She had spoken quietly s that Antonio wouldn't have heard her and gotten worried. Surprisingly, it was Stealth who was thrown off balance by the question. For the first time the woman saw him hesitating. It was so unusual for the predator that Lex forgot in her confusion what she was going to say next.

It was only a brief moment and soon the warrior had the old, arrogant look on his face again.

"I sure… would have enough reasons."

"Well you know, so do I", the woman said back, content that for once she had managed to shake the hunter's ego, even though she didn't know what had caused it.

The truth was that Stealth had no clue himself why he hadn't simply killed the woman when she had become a nuisance. He didn't care about humans, so why couldn't he just decide what to do with the woman. The warrior's thoughts didn't leave him in peace, but that was something he would never reveal to anyone.

An inquiring head tilt made it clear that Lex was allowed to continue at least for the moment.

"If you happen to remember, without my help you would still be rotting useless in your little hideout. The way I see it, you owe me."

Stealth pondered the woman's argument and realized for his irritation that she had a point. He convinced to himself that humans were inferior beings and he didn't have any obligations to them. So why did it bother him?

Lex knew by looking on the predator's expressions that she was skating on thin ice. Something was wrong with him for sure. She understood that already before he tightened his grip on her.

"And the way I see it… you have come… in my way… for too many times… and still you're alive."

"At least you paid back that stab earlier", the woman remarked, referring to her wounds. "And I'm not asking for anything impossible. I just want you to leave these people here alone and help me to get Scar out."

Lex was in quite uncomfortable situation. Stealth was keeping her close to himself so she had to look up to see his face. That wasn't the most comfortable position, but she would have much rather stayed like that, than stared into those golden eyes as the predator brought his face close to hers.

"Maybe… I will let you live…" Stealth started with a serious tone. "But that… doesn't include anyone else… Especially not the one… who meddled earlier."

The conversation was over. The warrior released the woman and turned, preparing to finish the job. He wasn't that surprised to see the woman stepping in front of him again.

"Wait! This is pointless; I know where Scar is being held. I just need help to get the door open. There's no sense in what you're doing."

Lex's appeal made Stealth smirk. "Are you forgetting something… we came here… to hunt… Both of us."

The woman didn't say anything to that. She knew that wasn't Scar's only reason to stay on earth anymore. Unfortunately, for Stealth it was.

"They have no chance of winning. Is that an honourable fight?"

Lex was starting to get desperate because of the predator's stubbornness. That much he had in common with Scar. It was probably a distinctive feature in their race.

Stealth didn't bother to answer anymore. He simply pushed the woman out of his way. Or would have, if she hadn't clung to his arm like a burr.

"Antonio! Get out of here now!"

The man had jumped to his feet the second he had noticed that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. He quickly realized that fleeing wasn't possible. He wasn't the type to leave anyone behind. And even if they all could have gone together, dragging Keith and Mark with them would have slowed them too much.

"It's hopeless", the man stated half-aloud.

"Bullshit, now let's get going."

Antonio was awakened from his thoughts by Annie's voice. The woman had also seen that the time for talking was over and run to him.

"Come on, let's help this big oaf back to his feet."

For a moment Antonio looked at the woman puzzled, wondering why bother when they would die soon anyway. When she saw that nothing was happening, Annie shot him with such an evil eye that he wasn't sure anymore which one was more intimidating: the woman with her bad temper or the 7 and a half feet tall hunter.

Stealth couldn't believe that the woman was still continuing her futile attempts to stop him. The predator had no difficulty breaking her grip. This time he spun the woman around and wrapped his hand around her waist. He wanted her to see what was going to happen.

Lex held her hand other throbbing head. Everything had happened so fast that she had bumped the back of her head into Stealth chest plate. Yet another concussion. On top of all, being so helpless was really starting to get to her.

"Let them be, I beg you!" The woman prayed, without getting any reaction. She kept hitting and twisting the arm that was relentlessly holding her in place, but she was simply too weak to get away. Then she noticed that something had appeared into the warrior's other hand. Stealth raised his arm to point at the three humans. The mysterious device had to be some kind of a weapon, though Lex didn't have any idea…

The thought struck like a lightning in her mind. Could it be… In Antarctica, one of the hunters had had a weapon that fired a net that… that…

"Stealth, no!!" The woman yelled horrified by the memory of the weapon. She tried to pull the aiming arm down, but Stealth yanked her to his side so she couldn't reach it.

Lex looked at the people that had noticed the danger too late. They couldn't die like that. She couldn't let Antonio die like that!

"**Stop! **I'll do anything…"

For a moment the world stopped. The lethal net didn't come. Then Lex realized something that made her heart skip a beat.

The predator was thinking about her offer.

The woman couldn't back out anymore. If this was the only way she could save them, she would do it. Whatever she would have to do.

A mild sense of nausea swept over Lex as she imagined the worst thing he could want. If the warrior hadn't been holding her, she would have collapsed soon.

Stealth didn't put down the weapon yet. He was enjoying the woman's distress, excited about the new turn in the situation.

"Anything?" He repeated with a dirty grin. "Even if I wanted you… to satisfy my curiosity?"

Lex felt like she was running out of air. She didn't want to answer, she wanted to get as far from the predator as possible and forget that he even existed.

"… A-… anything… Just don't harm any more of the people here."

Now Stealth lowered his weapon and put it back in its place. He chuckled softly while fondling the woman's neck with his free hand.

"How… interesting situation."

And it was about to get a lot more interesting.

A loud crash got everyone's attention. Stealth turned around with a growl, still holding the woman, and saw that the door had been kicked in. Lex felt tears running freely on her face, but this time they were tears of joy. The figure standing in the doorway was like a gift from the heavens. It didn't matter how he had gotten there. He was there and everything would be fine.

"Scar…"


	18. Finally Scar vs Stealth

I don't know what happened. For days i could hardly write anything and then something happened and i wrote like crazy. Whatever it was, i hope it doesn't go away. ;P Apologies to those who keep asking me to update soon, it seems to have become an impossibility for me. :p

But thank you for sticking with me in this seemingly never ending story. :D

**Ms Olivia Mandell:** Heh, i guess everyone's been waiting for Scar to whoop some ass ever since Lex met Stealth. Don't worry, he'll whoop lots of ass before this is over. ;D

**KawaiiEarBiter:** I love forbidden love stories too. And i'm glad you like this one. :D

**OSR4ever:** Oh, he sure has something like that in mind. ;)

**SC Girl:** Hmm, well what kind of advice would you give to Stealth about dating? ;D I'm sure he would be happy to receive some. Maybe he can then go to try them on Annie. xD

**XNightxRiderX:** Hehee, you might be on the right tracks about that... :)

**Mixchocolate:** Thank you! And a good observation, by the way. :) It really seems like that.

**KittynJenn:** No he won't. :) And he hasn't probably even suspect that Stealth might be interested in Lex that way. It will surely be a shock to him if he ever finds out. :P

**Harlequin Jade:** Yay, he sure is and i'm really happy about it too. :D

**blood shifter:** Good point. :) Now they'll just have to wait and see.

**Crooked:** Now that's a very good guess, but you'll have to read and find out if that's what's going to happen. :) The relation between Lex and Stealth is quite the mystery even to me, but Lex will probably become more confident with him now that Scar is in the picture again. Though she shouldn't forget that Stealth is still bigger, stronger and after her for some reason.

**lamyka:** Thanks! You'll see that soon. :D

**shadowglove:** Thank you! :D I guess it sounds like a pretty good combination. :)

**Fiori-161:** Thanks, i will. :)

**hunterthewerewolf:** Oh no, or else... xo Now i won't dare to get lazy. But big thanks for the praises again, though they might be a bit overdone. XD

**Novamyth:** Yeah, cliffies are mean... but so fun to write. ;) And Stealth might demand anything. You never know about that crazy bastard. xD

**Taladarkiejj:** Heh, sorry about that. But wait no more. :D

* * *

The loud crash from the breaking door echoed around the hall, eventually leaving behind a pressuring silence. Lex was the only one not to notice it. Or just not to care. An unexpected, but very welcome rescuer had stolen all her attention and made her so bewildered she didn't even note the change that had happened in him. And when it finally reached her consciousness, she pushed it aside, thinking it was irrelevant. When fate throws you a life preserver, you take it and don't stop to think where it came from.

The predators were normally an impressive sight and Scar surely wasn't an exception with an entrance like that, standing by the remains of the door, tall and strong. He was once again wearing his armour pieces and more. The thing that had gotten Lex's attention was the mask on the warrior's face. It definitely didn't belong to Scar.

It confused the woman for a while, making her suspect if it really was who she thought it was. The mask was darker and had spikes coming from the sides. A familiar scar on his abdomen was, however, an undisputable proof, so Lex forgot her suspicions.

She wasn't the only one with eyes glued to the doorway. Everyone else, Stealth in particular, were keeping an eye on the hunter, waiting for the new player to make his first move. None of them noticed a single figure that was also observing the development of the situation from above behind the windows.

Much like the occasional, unpredictable silences of Stealth, Lex soon began to hate this silence too. She was bothered by the fact that Scar hadn't said or done anything. Everything she knew about the warrior told her that he was acting strangely. And considering what they had been doing to him in the laboratory, Lex was really starting to get worried about Scar's condition. He could have been hurt or still under the influence of some drug.

The woman felt the want to turn and give Antonio a piece of her mind for their cruel research methods, when she remembered where she was. Stealth's arm was still wrapped around her, efficiently preventing her from moving.

"Would you let go already?" Lex said quietly, but with much more self-confidence than before. Whatever condition Scar was in, just seeing him seemed to give her strength.

Stealth seemed to be pulled from his thoughts by her request. He looked at the woman as if just realizing himself that she was still there. The voice finally got Scar to react too. A threatening growl rumbled from his throat and his hand was clenched into a fist. Everybody got the message loud and clear.

The next moment Lex realized she could breathe easier. She took a couple of steps and turned to look at Stealth with a bad feeling. The face of the predator didn't bode well. It looked like the time for the two hunters' showdown had come. It didn't take a genius to tell that they had hated each other since the beginning.

But neither the time nor the place was right for that. In another situation Lex probably wouldn't have interfered, but right then she just wanted to get Scar out of there. Slowly she started stepping towards the predator, smiling carefully when he focused the hollow eyes of the metallic mask on her. The woman continued to walk until she was standing right in front of Scar. She was pleased to see that his eyes also stayed focused on her and didn't go back to Stealth. A little bit of persuasion and maybe the disagreements could be forgotten at least until everybody would be safe.

"Scar", Lex nearly got startled by her own voice that seemed so loud in the soundless hall. "It's... hard to comprehend you're really there."

The large warrior was breathing unusually heavily and he still didn't say a word, which made the woman increasingly worried. Somehow, she would have to connect with him again. Lex lowered her eyes on Scar's hand that was still clenched into a tight fist. Gently she reached out her hands and closed them around the predator's considerably bigger hand.

"Are you alright?" She asked without raising her eyes. The hand relaxed a little. Lex wasn't sure what she was doing, but followed her heart, taking the hand close to her face and kissing the fingers lightly. The warrior allowed his fist to open, but it didn't remove the tension from the rest of his body. At least the woman's touch seemed to calm him down enough to keep him from jumping on Stealth.

Scar might not have been himself, but there was still something familiar about him. Lex felt a warm flow inside as the predator moved his hand on her face to stroke the hunter's mark on her cheek. It felt surprisingly good, making her want to forget everything else and freeze time to that moment. To the moment when everything was fine for the first time in a long while.

"Lex! What are you doing, be careful!" Antonio's voice shattered the woman's wish. "I wouldn't trust those things too much if I were you."

Scar pulled his hand back, raising his head to glare at the source of the disturbance. Lex was furious as she turned to the man.

"Let me tell you, I don't need…"

Zzzzt…

The woman's sentence was cut short by a frightening sound. She knew things were about to get out of hands even before she spun around and saw that the plasma weapon on the warrior's shoulder was aimed to her friend.

"Scar, there's no need to overreact. He just happens to act like a jerk sometimes." Lex began calming the situation down, though she didn't seriously think that the hunter was going to hurt any of them.

A triangle of red dots appearing on Antonio's forehead made her rethink that. She wasn't sure anymore of Scar's intentions, but she was sure that she didn't want to be guessing if she would soon see the contents of the man's head decorating the floor or not. As far as she could think, there was only one thing she could do.

The woman stepped backwards, until she was standing right in the way of the red dots. If somebody had come to tell her that she was crazy to be doing that, she wouldn't have argued.

A series of sharp clicks made Lex turn her head. Stealth came to her side, speaking their bizarre language. The woman didn't miss the somewhat annoyed glance that he gave her. Crazy human, it seemed to say. We have a deal, don't get yourself killed now. Lex controlled her sudden urge to stick out her tongue at the hunter.

At last Scar said something. It sounded to the woman like he was having a hard time getting anything out. She looked over to Stealth, but the warrior didn't offer any explanation to what he had said.

Ignoring her he moved to Scar, slamming his hand on his fellow hunter's shoulder. Lex interpreted it as some kind of a friendly gesture, though she found it difficult to imagine Stealth acting friendly towards anyone.

She also found it difficult to imagine Scar reacting to it by trying to break Stealth's mandibles, but then she didn't have to imagine it as the next moment the usually so alert hunter was lying on the ground, utterly taken aback by the surprising punch.

Lex breathed sharply, not understanding what was happening. Scar must've been out of his mind and it didn't look like he was about to calm down in anytime soon. He charged again, seeming to have flown into rage, perhaps beyond reasoning already.

Stealth had been considered as a very promising hunter ever since his training had started and not without a good reason. As Scar went for the second blow, he was already on one knee, waiting. At the last possible moment he jumped aside, simultaneously tripping the unbalanced warrior. He, in turn, fell to the floor and before he could even think about getting up, Stealth was holding him down with a knee on his back and hands pushing down his shoulders.

The conversation Lex couldn't understand, continued. Or to be more precise, Stealth was trying to talk as Scar was growling and trying to get Stealth off of his back. Both attempts proved futile. Stealth sighed in frustration. If he couldn't find out the reason for Scar's aggression, he would have to either make him unconscious or dead.

Paya knows, he would have every right for the latter after how he had attacked him. Any other hunter would have confirmed that. He just didn't feel like dragging the heavy body back to the caves.

Lex could only have stared frozen when Scar had started the fight. She had been close enough to almost feel the power behind the strike and even though she desperately wanted to do something, it was obvious that people who got involved in such a fight would very soon be dead people.

That's why she was so confused to realize that Stealth was looking in her direction. She still didn't like that calculating look, since it revealed that the predator had once again something in his mind.

"Woman!" Stealth called with a commanding tone. "Come here and… try to get this fool… to calm down."

Lex didn't move, just frowned. "Is my name really so hard to remember?"

The hunter snorted, or at least it sounded like he did. "Woman is fine… or slave… if you prefer that."

"I would _prefer _you not speaking to me at all", Lex muttered, but approached the predators. Suddenly someone, however, grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.

"Wait, Lex. Now it would be the perfect time to get the hell out of here. Let those two settle their scores."

Antonio of course.

The woman was about to pull her hand free, when the red dots appeared again, aiming past her to the unaware man's chest. She didn't have any time to warn him, so she simply pushed him down just before a bright and deadly beam flashed through the air, right where they had been a second ago. The plasma charge continued its way, eventually hitting the crates on the other side of the hall. Pieces of wood and metal flew into the air, escorted by a loud explosion.

The charge had been fired blindingly close to Stealth's head, making him instinctively back away. Even though Scar was acting like he had gone crazy, he was sane enough to take advantage of this mistake. Stealth had lost his balance and couldn't do anything anymore to keep Scar from breaking free.

Lex and Antonio recovered quickly from the surprise attack and got their heads up just in time to see Scar turning around, resting on one arm and swinging his wristblades with the other.

"Shit!" Lex cursed when the blades cut deep wounds on Stealth's arm. Maybe she could have gotten the raging warrior to calm down when he had been held down, but now the chances of success were practically nonexistent.

The next attack was a kick that sent Stealth to examine the concrete floor once again. His right arm was largely covered with phosphorescent green blood, but he didn't even notice it. Both fighters got to their feet at the same time, stopping to stare at each other, trying to predict the next move.

Antonio got up slowly, helping the woman up too and whispered to her ear, trying to avoid doing anything that would draw attention.

"Seriously, Lex. We have to go while we still can. There's nothing you can do here, but to get yourself killed."

Lex gritted her teeth and wouldn't look at the man. Of course that didn't stop him from continuing.

"If you don't go, I won't go. And if we don't go, Annie can't get Keith and Mark out of here alone, which probably means that we're all going to get ourselves killed."

This time Lex turned to face Antonio with an angry response on her lips. It faded away before she could get it out. The silent plea and love in the man's dark eyes simply overpowered her already exhausted mind. She was just so tired… So tired of being angry and scared all the time.

"Alright", she sighed, trying to ignore the fight that was going on again.

Stealth was beginning to lose his patience. If that maniac wasn't going to hold back, neither would he. The hunter extended his own wristblades. They both were now serious.

Lunging forwards simultaneously, almost like mirror images of each other, they locked their hands together in a test of strengths. The blades were swinging dangerously close to both of their heads, waiting for one of them to gain the upper hand. Neither of them cared anymore about what the humans were doing.

"What took you so long?" Annie said as Antonio and Lex hurried to her. Right away the man helped to lift Keith up. The injured man had lost a great amount of blood, even though Annie had pressed her coat against the wound as hard as she could. Her white tank top was smudged with blood here and there where she had wiped her hands. Moving the man in that condition wasn't the smartest idea, but it was better than staying there.

"Go on ahead, I'll try if I can get Mark awake", Lex instructed. "Was he badly hurt?"

"I don't think so", Annie shook her head. "He was most likely just knocked out."

As Lex ran to the youngster, Annie shook her head again. "Somebody will have to explain to me, what really is going on in here, because I don't have a clue."

Antonio flashed a brief smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I wonder if any of us do."

* * *

The foursome moved as fast as they could in the long corridors. Fortunately they had been able to wake Mark up, so they didn't have to carry him. Lex was going first, supporting the still lightheaded young man, while Antonio and Annie dragged Keith between them.

"I take it the tranquilizer guns didn't work, huh?" Lex inquired casually, wondering in her mind if they were going in the right direction.

"Not really", Mark confessed, smiling faintly. "Keith was right when he said that they wouldn't guarantee our survival."

After that, nobody spoke, though undoubtedly they all had about a million questions in mind. They would have to wait until Keith would be stitched up. Mark had also suffered some damage. He had gotten an impressive lump on his head where the predator had hit him, but it could be treated with a bag of ice and rest.

Finally they got to the first hall where Mark had earlier opened the door for Lex and unintentionally for Stealth too. The woman made sure that the youngster could stand up on his own and went on ahead to open the door for them.

"Just a little further, Keith. Hang on in there", Lex encouraged without knowing if the man could even hear her or not.

Mark went first, reaching for support from the wall, but walking much more steadily than at first. After the group of three had gotten to the corridor, Lex was still standing by the door. Something, maybe instinct, made Antonio look behind just then.

Lex gave him an apologizing smile and closed the thick door in front of her, locking the others outside.

Antonio's voice carried faintly into the woman's ears as she turned back to where they had come from, but it didn't make her doubt her decision. She would help Scar no matter what happens.

And this time she actually might have a plan.


	19. I promise, I'll bring you back

Thank yooouu for waiting and reading and commenting. :D This chapter took a long time too, but i think i'm starting to get some rythm to my writing, so maybe i'll get the next one here faster.

**limnamae:** Thanks for the compliments and great that now you don't have to hunt me down. ;D Yep, Stealth reeally needs a girlfriend. I don't actually think they can kiss, i just can't see how it could be possible at least without being really gross. XD And about the sex, i agree with you. Ouch Xp I once read a fanfiction, where the predator's... thing... was 12.5 inches, if i remember correctly. x)

**KittynJenn:** Yep, Scar's lost it. :D

**Mixchocolate:** Aah, forbidden love is great... But i can't reveal anything about their futures yet. ;)

**Elunara:** Great to hear from you again! :D And great that you're waiting for them to reveal their feelings, i'm looking forward to that myself. :)

**Taladarkiejj:** Well, you're going to find out soon what Vincent's planning. And thanks for the cheering, i'll try to write faster from now on. :)

**Ms Olivia Mandell:** No, i don't think Scar's mad at Lex, but those scientists sure messed him up. xD

**Crooked:** Yeah, Antonio can be really annoying from time to time. Wow, a psychic... cool... XD

**blood shifter:** Of course i'm not gonna answer to that question! :DD

**Vampirika:** With 50 planning and 50 luck. xD

I doOoOoOo not own Scar or Lex.

* * *

"Lex!! Lex, don't do this! Come back!" Antonio called out, pounding the door a few times before giving up.

How could he have been so stupid, not noticing the woman's intentions? The man would have continued blaming himself if Annie hadn't stopped him right away with a harsh, but true remark.

"If you don't have anything better to do, maybe you could help me get Keith out of here before he bleeds to death."

The woman was having difficulties keeping the big man up by herself, so Antonio had no choice, but to come to her aid again. His expression made Annie sigh with irritation.

"Lex is a grown woman, for goodness' sake. She makes her own decisions and there's obviously nothing you can do about that, so let it be and let's go."

"You can be so cruel sometimes", Antonio complained as he threw the injured man's hand over his shoulder. "I bet if you had started talking to that other hunter instead of fighting, he would have been ready to say uncle in a minute."

"I'm also worried", Mark interrupted before Annie could smack the man in the head. He had already pushed the button on the other end of the corridor and the elevator doors had opened. "Aren't there more ways down here than this?"

"Yees…"

"I'm feeling pretty good now", the young man assured ignoring the woman who was rolling her eyes frustrated. "I can trade places with you so you can go after Lex."

Antonio's face lit up. "Alright then, let's hurry."

"Fool", Annie said shortly, when they had gotten Keith in the elevator. "That woman has survived on her own so far. Hell, she's doing a damn good job when you think about it. She was the only one to survive from Antarctica after facing those hunters. Just now she came into close contact with two of them and she barely has a scratch on her. You opened your mouth and got your head nearly blown off. Not that I wonder, but still. If we're going to go back there, we need reinforcements."

"I'm sure I'll find something useful on the way. And besides, aren't we all here to fight this threat? If those two don't finish each other off, somebody has to be there, ready to do it for them."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think Lex is going to say to that? She seemed to be pretty familiar with the one that escaped."

Antonio was quiet for a moment. "This is best for her too, whether she realizes it or not."

* * *

I have to make it; I just have to make it in time.

Lex moved through the corridors faster than ever before. She remembered the route well, so she didn't have to slow down otherwise than to prevent herself from bumping into walls when turning around a corner. The woman felt more free now that the others were out of the way. She didn't want to have to worry about them too. After all, that was why she had had to make her promise to Stealth in the first place.

But anyway, they were out of the picture so she wouldn't have to bother herself with them at least for a while. Instead, Lex concentrated on hoping that both of the predators would still be fine. Stealth's condition, though, mattered only because she would need his help.

Coming to the final corridor the woman at last slowed to a walking pace to catch her breath. She saw one of the hunters before she even got to the doorway.

Stealth. But where was Scar..?

A hair-raising roar gave Lex shivers. It sounded more animal than humane, but it was clearly a cry of pain. Lex had rushed into the hall before she even realized that her feet had moved.

If she had glanced at Stealth right then, she would have noticed that he didn't look especially surprised to see her. The only thing the woman saw, however, was another predator who had fallen on one knee and was holding his head with both hands.

Scar was still alive, but for how long? Lex couldn't stand to see the warrior twitching in agony like someone had poured acid on his back. She forced herself to turn her eyes away and walked quickly over to Stealth, trying hard not to listen to the horrible noises.

"I thought… you'd be back."

Lex was too upset to care if the words were meant as a simple statement or if the predator was once again playing his games with her.

"What's happening to him?"

The woman's way of looking directly into his eyes without blinking revealed to Stealth that she was angry. He liked that look almost as much as the one she had when she was scared.

"Most likely… he will die."

The blunt words were like an icy hand around Lex's heart. Last time she had felt like that had been in Antarctica, when she had thought Scar was going to die. Still the same situation, but this time his survival might depend on her.

"I'm not going to let it happen."

Stealth sneered at the woman's groundless self-confidence. Scar was getting weird seizures more and more often, but when someone tried to talk to him or approach him, he attacked them. Surely the woman had to understand that he probably didn't even recognize either of them.

"Just listen to what I have to say", Lex asked, glancing impatiently at Scar. "He's like that presumably because of the drugs they pumped into him, right?"

Stealth gave the woman a slow nod, slightly interested to hear what she was going to suggest.

"Maybe."

"You were also suffering from the effects of a drug when you were shot with the tranquilizer darts. Would the medicine that helped you, work in this case too?"

Stealth had to admit that the woman wasn't completely useless. Theoretically it should work. There was only one small problem.

"Even if… it would work… how are you going to… get the medicine?"

"What do you mean how?" Lex demanded suspiciously. The hunter wasn't going to make things more complicated, was he? "You have…" Then she realized something essential. Stealth _had had _some fast-working medicine in his medi-kit. "Don't tell me all you had was in that syringe."

The predator didn't have to say anything. Lex cursed and took another look at Scar, who was slowly getting up.

"So we have to get the medicine from him. He does have the same stuff, doesn't he?"

"Yes", Stealth confirmed and tilted his head judgingly. "But still… how are you… going to get it?"

"That would be your job, you know."

"Mine?" The warrior leaned closer to the woman's face. "You're the one… who's desperate… to get him back."

Lex didn't know what to say to that, but she didn't hesitate to return the predator's gaze. Stealth straightened himself up, giving a mocking laugh.

"Your dept will grow… if you ask… for another favour."

"Don't even try", Lex warned, placing her hands on her hips. "You also have a responsibility to help him. He's a hunter and so are you. And I bet that if you didn't have some motive to help him, you would have either already killed him, or left him here."

To tell the truth, Stealth had done neither of those, because he wasn't sure what he was expected to do in this situation. They had certain rules considering hunts. When it was over, the injured and the dead were to be transported back to the ship, but during it, interfering with someone else's fight was a punishable deed. And so was attacking a fellow hunter.

The situation wasn't normal, however, and Stealth didn't like it. He also didn't like the woman's ability to read his intentions, but without a doubt, her idea was worth trying. And if it would work, it would save him a lot of trouble.

"Alright."

Lex stared for a while at the warrior who had agreed so easily. It wasn't like him to let her get her way.

"But you're… going to have to… do your part too."

"That's fine by me", Lex nodded determinedly. "What do I have to do?"

"Keep his attention… on yourself… and be ready."

"Hmm? Hey!" The woman shouted, surprised when the predator suddenly grabbed her by the neck and turned her towards Scar. For a second, she felt a warm breath close to her ear.

"And don't… get caught… this easily."

The grip loosened and next Lex was roughly pushed forward. She fell on all fours, letting out a pained groan, when her injured hand hit the ground. The woman wanted to turn and let Stealth know exactly what she thought of him, but raising her eyes, she saw that she had just gained Scar's attention.

Lex could only stare in shock at the shadow of her former friend and protector. For a fleeting moment she was engulfed by a horrible feeling that she had lost Scar forever and that the hunter in front of her was nothing more than a wounded beast.

It hurt her more than the woman could have believed. She couldn't deny it anymore: on some level she loved that humanoid warrior, no matter how impossible it sounded. Admitting this to herself, she also understood that she would do anything to get him back.

"Scar, whether you hear me or not…" Lex spoke, smiling sadly while walking closer to the predator and stopping to pick up something she had left behind earlier. "…whatever it takes, I'll bring you back."

Stealth watched in disbelief as the woman lifted her spear from the floor and started to circle around Scar, her back almost touching piles of crates. He hadn't believed her to go that far. Taking a weapon indeed assured that the attention would stay on her, but it was also the same as presenting a challenge. Stealth had to suspect if the woman had any instinct for self-preservation.

Lex didn't even flinch when Scar let out a low growl. She knew very well that her survival would depend on her alertness. She couldn't afford to get scared or let anything distract her. The only thing she could hope for, was that Stealth would make his move quickly. For that to happen, she would just have to first give him a chance for it.

Scar turned to look at the warrior behind him, making it clear that the woman would have to try harder if she wanted to get his attention solely to herself. She would frankly have to get the hunter enraged, even though she was afraid that it could lead to another agonizing seizure.

And then there was the risk of getting killed, of course.

Lex apologized to Scar in her mind and dashed forward while he was still looking at Stealth. She swung her spear accurately, making a long, but shallow cut on his thigh.

The woman definitely got what she had asked for. If the predator was hurt, it didn't show in his movements. Lex could barely get out of the way of Scar's wristblades, even though she started backing immediately after hitting him. Despite her determination, the close call left a gnawing doubt into the woman's mind. What if she couldn't get out of the way next time?

That doubt almost cost Lex dearly when Scar came after her. Trying to back away again, her back hit the crates, which she had momentarily forgotten to be behind her.

That time she was saved more by luck than quick reflexes. The first punch missed the woman's head by mere inches as she dived instinctively out of the way again. Wood cracked as the predator's fist went through the side of one of the crates. The sound startled Lex, making her unintentionally close her eyes for a second and raise the spear in front of her as a mean to protect herself.

That was a mistake and it didn't take her long to notice it.

Scar didn't even make an effort to pull his hand out of the crate; he continued to attack right away with his free hand that was closer to the woman. Lex couldn't dodge from that distance. She cried out in pain and shock as the hunter's double blades sank into her stomach.

For a while the woman was unable to comprehend what had happened, or why she had suddenly flown backwards and was leaning heavily against the crates. She expected to die, but instead of making her mind fuzzier, the throbbing pain, on the contrary, seemed to slowly clear her head. She felt a little faint, but looking down, she saw that there wasn't much blood.

The only explanation she could think of was that the spear she had been holding in front of her had gotten in between of the two blades. Whether it had been an act of instinct or simply amazing luck, she had managed to withstand the strength of the attack by keeping her arms firmly to her sides. That way she hadn't given in, which would have probably meant instant death. This time she had only been pushed backwards and left with minor wounds. This time.

The woman's eyes darted back up when something crashed again. Scar was slashing at the crates, breaking and knocking them over like a madman. Lex watched him, confused at first, until she noticed that the predator's hand was still inside the crate he had hit. He had somehow gotten stuck.

The woman saw a glimmer of hope and was about to call Stealth when she realized he was already on the move. Scar got his hand free, but didn't see the other hunter appearing behind him without a sound.

Lex made a face when Stealth tackled the raging warrior against the crates with force that set pieces of wood flying all around them. That was too much for the flimsy crates and one by one, they started falling, very soon creating a chain reaction. The woman looked up just to see one pile fall in front of her with a crash. The next crates were right above her. She couldn't do anything, but press herself against the lower crates and protect her head with her arms, when they came down. With eyes tightly closed she heard crashing around her, sometimes from frighteningly close, but as if by a miracle, none of them hit her. At last it became silent, a little too silent actually, and Lex was starting to think if she would dare to open her eyes at all.

"You couldn't… pick a worse time… to become helpless…could you?"

The voice from above her made the woman's eyes fly open. She looked speechlessly from the predator, who was leaning over her, at the crates that were lying around them and then again at the predator before she could get it in her head that Stealth had actually just shielded her.

The hunter straightened himself up, looking irritated and evading the woman's eyes. Lex just couldn't stop staring at him. Not until she remembered Scar.

"Did you get it?" She asked, ending the awkward silence, and turned to look for the other warrior with her eyes.

He hadn't been as lucky when the crates had fallen. He was lying on the floor, presumably unconscious. Stealth didn't answer to her question. They both saw the medi-kit still on Scar's back.

"Well, at least it's easier to get now."

The woman walked past the crates to the predator, her feet a bit shaky, and dropped to her knees beside him. She was tired and felt odd, like she would have wanted to cry and laugh, but didn't know which to do first. But since neither of them would have been of any help to Scar, she let her spear fall to the floor and focused on detaching the box from his back, like Stealth had taught her back in the caves.

Pulling it off, Lex glanced at the unconscious hunter's face that was now revealed. One of the crates must've knocked his mask off. Was that what Scar looked like when he was sleeping? The sudden and ridiculous thought made the woman smile as she was opening the medi-kit. She took out a familiar-looking syringe, shivering from seeing the monstrous needle again.

"You're lucky to be unconscious", she murmured under her breath, preparing to stick the needle into the warrior's side. Before she could do it, a slight movement caught her attention. When she looked closer, she saw the predator's fingers twitching. Holding her breath, she turned to look at his face again, and realized she was looking into his open eyes.

Lex couldn't keep herself from inhaling sharply. She tried to stagger to her feet, but the hunter was faster and pulled her back down from her ankle. Falling hard on her back made the woman almost drop the syringe.

Stealth was as surprised as Lex by Scar's unexpected awakening. It offered a rare advantage over the watchful predator and Scar used it immediately.

Stealth had no chance of dodging the net that was fired at him from such a close distance.

"Stealth!" Lex shouted as the warrior was trapped by the tightening net. She started kicking like hell to get free and almost made it, but now that Scar could concentrate fully on her, he clearly wasn't going to let her get away.

The woman knew she was going to lose this wrestling match and decided to put everything on one shot. As the predator forced himself on top of her, Lex stuck the needle deep into his side.

Scar's mandibles flared into a roar of pain and rage that made the woman's heart skip a beat. Everything would now depend on the medicine. Lex couldn't fight back when the warrior slammed her hand away from the syringe and pinned both of her hands to the floor.

That was where the situation froze.

The woman could hear her own heartbeats and Scar's breathing that had again gotten heavier. She didn't have a clue anymore of what was happening when the predator, without a warning, lowered his head like he was in pain. She felt his hands starting to shake uncontrollably. Was he hurting again? Didn't the medicine help at all?

"…at…"

Lex's breath stopped short. She was sure she had heard something.

"Scar?" She asked with a voice hardly louder than a whisper, trying desperately to see the hunter's eyes from behind his dreadlocks. Then she heard it again. It sounded horribly hoarse and was hard to make out, but it made the woman's eyes fill with tears.

"What… have I done?"


	20. A new enemy

Finally! I just don't get it. I love writing and I'm really looking forward to the final chapter and still i can't keep any deadlines. I'm always at least two weeks late.

Stealth: That's because... you're a useless human weakling... who prefers lazing in front of the tv... when she should be writing.

Me: (upset) No i don't!

Stealth: (raises a brow)

Me: Not much at least...

Lex: Actually i agree with him. You do that too much.

Me: Nooo, you think that too!! (turns desperately to Scar with tearful eyes)

Scar: ... (cloaks and sneaks away)

Me: (sighs deeply)

And now, where was I...

**quivering quill:** I'll try, but i don't make any promises. ;)

**KittynJenn:** Yep, he's back to normal. :)

**LoveHopes:** Thanks! It's always motivating to receive that kind of comments. :D

**Rain Everwood:** You're crying already? Then just wait 'till i get to the last chapter. xD

**chancelor22:** Mwahahaa! I'm the master of twisted cliffhangers. XDD

**Crooked:** Thanks! I'm really trying to be careful with the characters' personalities, so it's great to get comments about that. Stealth is a bit of a tough case; i think he has many different layers and surprising sides that i haven't found yet. But i will. x)

**vleicious:** Thank _you_ for such an encouraging comment. And yes, I'm definitely gonna finish this and perhaps even write some more after this. ;D

**Taladarkiejj: **I was actually a little surprised myself that Stealth would do such a nice thing to Lex. Who knows what he'll do next. ;)

* * *

"Are you really…" Lex could hardly breathe as the predator freed her hands and backed away from her. He sat down, resting his elbow against his knee and covering his eyes with his hand, unable to face the woman in front of him.

Lex sat up too. Her throat felt tight from all the emotions that were churning inside her, stubbornly refusing to come out. She had to fight to even get her voice to work properly. Scar was, however, the first one to succeed in that.

"Lex… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't…" The warrior lowered his head with no idea how to finish that sentence. Nothing he could say would erase what he had done to the woman. And what he had almost done.

Scar was so caught up in his guilt he didn't hear the soft steps approaching him. Because of that he was completely surprised when something suddenly bumped into him. The predator removed his hand from his eyes and saw to his amazement that the woman had fallen on his neck. Her head was resting on his shoulder and her slender arms were tightly wrapped around him.

"No. I'm the one who should apologize. If it wasn't for me, you would have never been caught and brought here. If I had just…" Lex sighed inconsolably. "I don't even know what I should have done. I wish I had never come here in the first place."

She didn't expect her words to have such a strong influence, but right after she had said it, Scar immediately clasped her in his arms, like she could have disappeared any minute.

"Did you mean that?"

At that moment Lex was glad that she wasn't facing the hunter's gaze. She was still tearful, tired and above all, confused by all the things she felt when she was so close to Scar.

"I don't know."

Lex was almost panicking. She wasn't at all sure that she would be able to handle the chaos inside her. She made a feeble attempt to disengage herself from the predator's embrace, but he held her in place with gentle determination.

"I wanted…" He began hoarsely. "…so many times to tell you that you would never have to be afraid with me. That I would never do anything to harm you."

Scar stroked the woman's hair carefully. It was a gesture full of longing and it was driving Lex crazy. With every touch she wanted more and more to stay right there with him and that frightened her as much as the thought of losing the warrior had frightened her a moment ago. She knew, though, that she wasn't the only one whose mind was troubled by a burden.

"That I know without saying", the woman assured, deciding to end the conversation short, before things would get out of hands. She needed time to think all that had happened.

"You weren't yourself and I bet Vincent is to blame for that. You don't have to beat yourself up anymore, okay? Let's just get out of here."

Lex tried to free herself again, but the predator still didn't let go of her. She frowned, thinking how unfair it was of him to be using his strength to his advantage in that kind of situations.

"But it was me", Scar said gloomily and without realizing it, tightening his hold a little bit. "I remember everything. I was suddenly freed, but I was engulfed by such a fiery rage that I couldn't think of anything, but the pain and killing. I let myself down and I let you down. I don't even have the right to hold you like this anymore and still…"

Lex had listened in amazement to the warrior's speech and wasn't prepared when he without a warning pulled her away from himself and finally looked her in the eyes.

"…still, despite my shame, I can't and don't want to let go."

For a moment, the connection between was stronger than ever before. Lex saw every sincere feeling in Scar's eyes and couldn't help, but to wonder what her own eyes were revealing.

But like every moment, it was fragile and easily broken.

"You should… watch what you say."

A cold voice made Lex jump to her feet before she even remembered who it belonged to. She didn't know how to react when she saw another hunter standing in the middle of a shredded net, studying them with an inscrutable look. As she had thought to herself many times, Stealth could be unpredictable.

Scar was also on his guard and already regretted his weakness. He hadn't nearly recovered yet, so it probably wasn't that surprising that he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings for a while. But a mistake was a mistake and no excuse would change that. He would just have to hope that this one wouldn't cost him.

"_What do you mean by that?_" Scar demanded, switching to their native language.

Stealth cast a significant look at the woman. "_What do you think the elders will say if they hear about this?_"

Scar got to his feet, doing his best to hide his weak condition. "_Should I consider that as a threat?_"

"_Consider it anyway you want_", Stealth scoffed and walked right in front of Scar. "_Do you really believe no-one will notice what's going on between you two if you take her with you? You clearly have no idea what you're doing._"

Lex almost took a step back when Stealth came closer, but managed to stand still. She hated that Scar had changed the language when she was still around. It made her nervous and got her suspecting that he was trying to hide things from her. It didn't help either that judging by the way Stealth had looked at her, they were talking about her.

Even though Lex didn't understand the words, she couldn't miss the tension between the two hunters. Her biggest concern was what Stealth was going to do. It was pretty obvious that he would have no problems driving Scar absolutely mad if he wanted to. She herself had given the predator the perfect means to do so. All he would have to do was to hint about the deal with her. If Lex knew Scar at all, he wouldn't take it well. And as strong as she knew him to be, she feared that he wouldn't have much of a chance against Stealth in that condition.

"Now wait a minute, you two!" Lex exclaimed strictly. Both hunters fell silent and turned to look at the woman. "I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this place. I'm getting out of here before anything worse will happen and I recommend that you do the same."

The last remark was unnecessary, since Lex knew that Scar would follow her in any case. When they would get back up she would walk to the nearby town and find the nearest accommodation that could provide her with a hot bath and a comfy bed. Then she would forget about everything for a while. First she would just have to make sure, somehow, that whatever Scar and Stealth were planning on doing, they wouldn't beat the hell out of each other while she would be resting. After a good night's sleep everything would be clearer, or at least that's what Lex was hoping for.

A sudden crackle stopped her before she could take one step.

"How unfortunate…" a familiar voice echoed around them. "…that all of your efforts have been for nothing."

"Vincent", Lex recognized, even though she couldn't see the man. The voice they heard came from speakers on the wall.

"I can see that my little experiment didn't produce the desired effect."

He can see us, but where is he? The woman raised her eyes and saw a figure standing behind the windows that had yet been empty when they first arrived there. Scar and Stealth had forgotten about their argument and looked up too. Lex gave them a sidelong glance, thinking if she could try to get Scar to leave with her before things really would take a turn for the worse.

Stealth seemed keen on testing his blades on the human that had humiliated him earlier and Lex couldn't blame him, but Scar's reaction, or mainly its intensity, came as a surprise to her.

Describing the warrior as angry would have been a huge understatement. At first she couldn't understand what caused this, until she thought what Vincent had just said.

So he really was responsible for what had happened to Scar. Keith had been right. Lex's eyes flashed when she remembered the sight of the predator attached to various devices and tubes.

The man only laughed dryly at their faces. "You look like you have something to say, but unfortunately I will be the one doing all the talking this time."

Scar didn't give a damn what the man had to say. He grabbed a throwing star from his belt and opened its razor sharp points with one swift tug. This made the man give a snort of contempt. He tapped the window with his finger.

"This here is extremely strong bullet-proof glass. Perhaps your fancy toy might be able to break it; perhaps it might not do more than a scratch. But what I do know, is that this conversation is over the second you throw that thing."

Lex wasn't sure what was so bad about that, but something in Vincent's face made her restless.

"And that might greatly reduce the chances of survival for Antonio and the others."

"Wait!" Lex gripped Scar's arm before he could throw the weapon. The hunter jerked his head towards the disturbance with a growl, but controlled himself when he saw Lex beside him. Still, it wasn't easy.

"I don't like this anymore than you do, but I want to hear what he's plotting." Lex's face darkened. "After that, I don't care what happens to him."

Scar realized that the woman was also very angry and that helped to relieve his own anger. Reluctantly he made another move, closing the throwing weapon this time. Lex gave him a grateful look and turned her attention back to Vincent, who was watching their every movement closely.

"As I already said, this experiment wasn't a huge success, even though the result was slightly better than expected. This, however, offers a chance to try out another experiment that I've been interested in."

Scar nearly took out the weapon again when the man smirked, looking very self-satisfied.

"I believe you're all more or less familiar with my test subjects."

* * *

What the hell is wrong with this elevator?!" Antonio raged, glaring at the doors, which persistently stayed closed. A moment before they would have reached the first floor, the elevator had stopped and it didn't look like it was going to start working anytime soon.

"The lights are still on, so this can't be because of a power failure", Annie stated thoughtfully. "Someone must have stopped the elevator from the control room."

"But who and why?" Mark said aloud the question they were all wondering. He glanced nervously at the ceiling, half expecting that the elevator would soon start falling down the shaft.

Antonio and Annie had set the badly injured Keith to sit against a wall and were watching him worried. The man's eyes were closed and he was breathing very lightly, resting his hand on the wound that Annie had bandaged as well as she could. It was hard to say if he was even conscious anymore.

Antonio focused his dark eyes on the doors that were about on waist's height. They couldn't wait there any longer because of Keith. They would have to take another way out. He got ready to wrench the doors open, when a loud thump on the roof made him freeze.

* * *

"What do you mean?" Lex shouted at the smiling man, though he couldn't hear her through the thick glass.

Vincent could, however, easily guess the woman's words from her expression. "You can see for yourselves soon."

Then he all of a sudden became serious. "But unlike you seem to think, I am not the monster here. You may choose right here and now which side you want to be on. If you still insist on staying with these things, you will die with them. If you forget about them, I'll guarantee you a safe passage out of here."

As Lex was left speechless for a while, the man shrugged. "I'll even let Antonio and your new friends go."

This time Lex was the one with troubles to control herself. "You son of a bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are, playing with people's lives, you asshole!"

Again Vincent had a pretty good idea what the woman must've said, but he continued calmly, like explaining something to a child. "Not long before you came back here, I stopped an elevator that was going up. Since I already well in advance gave everyone else an order to evacuate, we can be quite sure of who are in that elevator. Even if they got out of there, they would never get out of here alive without my help. So how do you choose?"

Lex was seething with rage. Apparently the man or his shameless attitude knew no limits. Could he seriously just stand there and let people die? And what were these test subjects that he was sure would kill all of them? Of course she didn't want to leave Scar behind, but the others…

"Lex."

The woman snapped out of the stream of her thoughts and just like she had a moment ago calmed Scar down, now his voice in return eased her anger.

"We are warriors", the predator announced self-confidently and lifted his hand lightly on Lex's face to brush the mark on her cheek with his thumb, like he always seemed to do. "And so are you. We don't have to listen anymore. Whatever enemies are waiting for us, we will defeat them."

Lex nodded and forced a tense smile on her face. "Well, what are we waiting for then?"

She picked up her spear from the floor and pointed it at the man, remotely aware of how over-theatrical it must've looked like. She didn't care. She was still angry.

"Bring it on."

Vincent shook his head in disbelief, seeing the clear answer. "Alright, do as you wish, but don't expect anymore kindness from me."

He was about to leave, but changed his mind. "I guess you didn't understand what I meant with those test subjects. I'll tell you before we go our separate ways. They're…"

* * *

"What the devil was that?!" Annie exclaimed anxiously as she pulled Mark closer to the wall.

"I have no idea", Antonio confessed, equally anxious. "But I have a feeling none of us want to stay and find out."

He turned around, starting hastily to wrench the doors open. Annie came to his help and together they managed to get them to open.

"Okay", Antonio breathed relieved when the doors were opened enough. "Let's get Keith up fast…"

A metallic screech drowned out the man's voice. The threesome watched petrified at the long cuts that had appeared onto the ceiling. Right away more cuts followed, like something had been tearing the roof apart. None of the people in the elevator could move or think clearly in front of this horrible sight. Not even when a black, drool dripping mouth came through the roof.


	21. Sudden loss and peculiar pride

Sorry this took so long again. :P Really big thanks to all of you for reading and commenting and having the patience to wait. :)

**NightmareAngel365:** Yay, thanks! I just love it when my characters get compliments. :D

**tain89:** Thanks! And i can't wait to reveal what will happen in the end, but unfortunately that will probably take some time. :)

**Fantasy Loremaster:** Thank you for the compliments! Stealth was actually originally supposed to be the ultimate bad guy in the story, but he surprised me. :D And the question about the sequel... i'm afraid i can't answer to that. xD

**FallenAnge1:** Heh, i'm glad that someone likes Annie too, though i haven't written much about her yet. :)

**Artemis Fowl Fan101:** Sorry, those questions don't get answered yet in this chapter, but i'll promise they'll be revealed later. :D

**Crooked:** Whew, great that most of you seemed to recognize the creature to be an alien, i was a little worried about that. And i agree, Lex is great in the movie, they should bring her back in avp3, presuming that there'll be one. Many thanks for the compliments. :)

**Harlequin Jade:** Well, i just couldn't make an avp story without the aliens. :D

**limnamae:** Heh, don't worry, no one's saying you would have to rewiev on every chapter. :D I know many of you would love to see Lex and Scar getting a happy ending, but i can't even give you a hint of what the ending will be like. I'm tempted to, but can't spoil anything. But yes. Stealth needs a girlfriend. Or the help of some daiting show. That is too funny of an idea to ignore. xD

**OSR4ever:** Thanks! :D Haa! (writing down the comment about the cliffhanger) Hell yeah, i'll remind you when you make a cliffhanger. XD

**Elunara:** And your comment made my day. :) Thank you and no worries. :D

**KittynJenn:** It's going to get worse for the elevator group. xD

**EspeonAngel:** I'm glad you guessed it was an alien, i was worried that no one would have any idea what the hell it was. xD Thank you for the many kind words. :D And for the sympathy on my drawing problem. xD

**vleicious:** Thanks you so much for the compliment about the action scenes. I've been really worried about them, since i haven't written those before. But your comment eased my mind. :) I agree with the *pressure relief* for Stealth and i guess sooner or later i will have to write about him finding that devil incarnate female. xD

**Taladarkiejj:** Weeell, throwing star/shuriken... same thing (i guess ;D) But thanks! :)

**Pampers Baby Dry:** Thanks! Okay, you go catch a bug. That is if you can beat Scar and Stealth to it. XD

I doooo noooot oooown Scar or Lex or anything from the movie.

* * *

"…Xenomorphs", Vincent finished his sentence and paused for a dramatic effect. "The very same creatures you faced in Antarctica."

Lex felt icy fingers closing around her heart, causing it to miss a beat. No. It wasn't possible. How did they even know about Antarctica? Coldness spread throughout the woman's body and she had to clench her fists tightly to keep them from shaking.

In a flash she was back in the pyramid. Back in the dark, death exuding corridors, running away from her worst nightmares that had now returned. Or to be more precise, she had returned to them.

Lex could still hear Sebastian's voice in her head clearly as if the man had been standing next to her. They mustn't reach the surface. What if they would this time?

Where the woman was struggling to control the sickening fear, Scar and Stealth had found at least one thing they could both agree on. Things had taken an interesting turn. If the human male was speaking the truth, they would get a chance to gain more honourable trophies than they had anticipated.

Interesting wasn't the word Lex would have used. Her eyes as well as her thoughts had wandered somewhere else for a moment, but now she forced them to concentrate on Vincent again.

The man took some kind of a device from the pocket of his white scientist's coat and glanced at it briefly before putting it back. "It is futile for me to tell you anything else, since you'll be dead soon, but one thing I'm going to say to ease your mind. These xenomorphs have been… processed, so to speak, and we've taken all the necessary precautions to make sure they don't escape. Everything is under my control."

As the man cast one last scornful look at them and walked out of their sight, Lex didn't know whether to hope or fear that.

* * *

The creature with a shining, black head seemed to be watching the terrified people, which was quite fascinating in itself, considering that it had no eyes at all. Nobody moved, nor even dared to breathe too loudly, hoping that it would lose interest in them eventually.

The long-shaped head came slowly lower, almost dripping a trail of drool on Mark. The big-eyed youngster's eyes became, if possible, even more wider as the monstrous being turned to him and hissed softly.

Two deafening bangs made the hissing change into a furious screech that echoed in the air still after the creature itself had vanished back into the dark elevator shaft. Three faces, white with shock, turned to look at their unexpected saviour.

Keith's hands rested by his side, but the gun he was squeezing tightly, was an indisputable proof that he had just probably saved them all. Or at least bought them more time.

"Holy hell, Keith!" Antonio burst out. "You couldn't have chosen a better time to wake up."

The robust man was barely conscious, but it didn't stop him from giving Antonio an irritated glare. "What are you waiting for? Get out!"

His words got more weight when a single drop fell from the ceiling, right in the middle of the floor, leaving smoking holes to both of them. Everyone raised their eyes up, just to see several other holes already appearing.

"Their blood is… extremely strong acid." Keith's concentration was beginning to flag and forming words was quickly getting harder. "Leave… me…"

"Don't be a fool", Mark snapped, moving beside the man. "We left you behind once already and look at you now."

Keith couldn't have said much to that even if he had still been able to talk. He was, however, slipping back to unconsciousness and didn't react when Annie and Antonio lifted him up.

"You first Mark", the woman said with a strict tone. The young man had no objections, so he climbed nimbly out of the elevator and turned to help with Keith. Pulling the man up, he caught sight of the yellowish blood coming from the ceiling. He was gratified to notice that there seemed to be plenty of it. Keith must had gotten a good shot. The large man was almost out of the elevator when Mark noticed something that started troubling him. The first drops had fallen to the centre of the floor, but most of the acid-corroded holes were forming a fast completing semicircle on the other side of the elevator. Like the creature was doing so on purpose.

Annie saw the youngster's hesitation. "What is it?"

Mark met her eyes and shook his head. Now wasn't the time to start imagining things.

They got Keith up without problems and the monster hadn't still come back. Antonio stayed behind to pick up the gun that had fallen from the injured man, watching carefully not to get any acid on him. The elevator had suffered quite a lot of damage in a short period of time. Why wasn't the creature attacking? Was it afraid of the weapon that had harmed it?

Annie had gotten out when Antonio turned around to follow her. Mark just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Blood had suddenly stopped coming through the roof and for a fleeting moment the blue-eyed youngster hoped that the creature had simply left.

As a shadow moved in the darkness outside the elevator, he knew they weren't that lucky.

Mark acted before he could even think about what he was doing, pushing Antonio, who had just gotten into the hallway, down onto the floor. At the same time he did that, something dived from the darkness and crashed into the wall right next to his head. The young man stared stupefied at a long, serrated tail, until he felt something running down his forehead.

Before Antonio could get up or Mark could realize that it was his own blood, the sharp-ended tail came whipping out of the wall and sent the youngster flying backwards into the air. With his breath cut short, he could only let out a smothered sound when he hit the back wall of the elevator and fell, to the others' horror, onto the floor and straight through it.

* * *

"Mark!!" Annie screamed in panic as the corroded floor collapsed under the dazed youngster, leaving him reaching for anything that would stop his fall. All he managed to do was cut his hand to the sharp edges before disappearing into the darkness.

Antonio sprung to his knees, barely catching the woman before she would have jumped back into the elevator.

"Let me go!" Annie screamed, fighting desperately to get past the man. "He might still be there, I have to save him! Mark! MAAARK!!!

Crushing the woman's already faint glimmer of hope, a part of the ceiling caved in as the creature clawed its way through it, dropping into the elevator and revealing itself to the humans for a second before continuing through the floor to pursuit its first prey.

* * *

"What a nightmare", Lex moaned, pulling her hand through her hair with her eyes closed. "And it just doesn't end."

Scar couldn't agree with that. He had been given one of the two things he had occasionally imagined when he had been thinking about Lex. A chance to hunt with her. He had to constantly remind himself that humans didn't understand hunting like his kind did, but nonetheless he enjoyed the situation.

Still the warrior kept a straight face when Lex turned to look at him.

"We have to hurry. The others have no idea what that bastard has set free."

"Do… what you will", Stealth stated before Scar could answer to the woman. "As long as… neither of you… get in my way."

Having said that the predator turned his back to them and marched towards a door that was opposite of the one they had come in from. Scar and Lex were both relived, though for different reasons. One thing, however, kept worrying the woman so much that she called for the leaving hunter.

Stealth stopped and glanced indifferently over his shoulder. Lex was hesitant to say what she had to say because of Scar, but she had to ask something.

"Please… if you find other people, leave them be."

Stealth turned so that he could se the woman's eyes when he said the thing he knew she didn't want him to say. "The deal… included only your friends."

Scar's entire body tensed ominously when he heard the word Lex had been afraid of. "What deal?"

Stealth couldn't resist but to twist his mandibles to a mocking sneer. "Ask… your woman."

Satisfied with the confusion he had caused, the warrior walked out of the door, leaving Scar to stare demandingly at Lex. The woman doubted she could simply shrug off the conversation, but decided to try anyway.

"It's nothing", she said shaking her head and conjured a careless smile on her face. "Don't take it too seriously; he's just doing everything to piss you off."

Lex couldn't stay under Scar's relentless gaze that was working like a lie detector, breaking through her phoney smile. She walked quickly away from the predator, heading for the backpack by the door where she had left it earlier, all the while trying to come up with possible explanations. She could feel Scar's suspiciousness as he came after her.

"Stealth doesn't joke around. If he said you have a deal then you have a deal."

Lex didn't stop nor even show in any way that she would answer to Scar, which caused him to grab her arm a little more roughly than he had intended.

"What deal did you make?"

Lex was now starting to get angry of the warrior's persistence and had to use all of her willpower to keep her voice calm. "I already told you, it was nothing you should worry about. I tried to keep him from killing anybody, which wasn't going so well as you must've seen when you came here. Now if you don't mind, I would like to go patch myself up before anyone else tries to puncture me."

That hit the target. Guilt weighed heavily on Scar's mind as he remembered the woman's injuries he himself had inflicted her. He was too terrified to even think how close she had came to dying by his hand. Normally he wouldn't have given up when he wanted answers, but how was he supposed to demand them now?

Lex tried not to look too relieved when the predator released her arm, looking somewhat tame. She wondered if she had gone a little too far by mentioning her wounds, even though she knew how terrible Scar felt about them. She just would do everything to avoid talking about her deal with Stealth. The whole thing was too much for her to even think of yet. Still, she hadn't been fair to the warrior.

Lex sighed at Scar's dejected expression, threw her spear next to her backpack and her arms around Scar's neck, pressing her head against his broad chest for a while. "You're here now and we're both fine, so quit complicating things."

The woman ended the hug and turned away before the predator would have returned it. "Besides", she continued with a little more believable smile while walking to her pack. "Do you think Stealth will dare to pick on me anymore now that you're here?"

Scar let out a brief laughter and a playful glint lit up in his eyes. "No, I'm the only one who is allowed to do that."

The hunter followed the woman with stalking steps, something in his mind that she definitely wasn't expecting.

Lex nearly jumped into the air when she felt a slap on her butt. She spun around, giving the predator an angry glare, but when she saw him grinning there like a mischievous school boy, she found out to her annoyance that she couldn't maintain her anger. She turned away again, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself as she knelt down to open the pack.

"I don't even want to know where you've learned that from."

Scar squatted down beside the woman, following disturbingly closely her every move. Lex pretended she didn't notice it at all, but felt embarrassingly clearly her cheeks starting to burn. She went through her backpack more frantically, managing to find the rest of her first aid supplies and dropping half of them when she forgot how much her other hand hurt.

Immediately Scar leaned closer, reaching out his clawed hand to carefully take hers and bring it closer to his face for examining. From the bruises his eyes travelled to Lex's shoulder, where the evidence of her earlier fight with Stealth could still be seen.

The woman knew without a doubt that the warrior would guess where those injuries had come from, so she prepared herself for another questioning. Scar raised his eyes, but instead of worry or anger, Lex could've sworn she saw only pride.

"I was wondering what had happened to his shoulder", the predator practically rubbed his hands with pleasure. "I knew you were a warrior."

Lex could only stare at Scar, not believing her ears. How could she possibly ever understand him or any one of his kind? It was utterly incomprehensible how everything Stealth did that had something to do with her enraged Scar, but when he heard that she had gotten into a fight with the other hunter, he looked like he was about to pat her on the head and say: good girl.

No, she wouldn't even try to understand.


	22. Awakening feelings

It's already been a year since i started to write this story (damn, i'm slow xP). Thank you for sticking with it for so long and I hope you all had great holidays. :D

There was one thing i've been wondering for a while now about Vincent. It doesn't matter if you know it or not, but decided to mention this to you anyway. If you remember Peter Keyes from the second Predator movie (the annoying agent that was responsible for the operation to catch the predator), Vincent is his son. I mentioned him shortly in one of the chapters and i'm not sure if anyone noticed that. Like i said, it doesn't really matter, but said it anyway. :)

**MeEksiNs:** Thank you! :D *Loves to hear compliments about Stealth*

**Blackrain7557:** Thanks! Somehow Stealth became a little more angsty that i had originally planned. :P

**Michelangelicious:** Thank you thank you! And don't worry, i may have some plans concerning Stealth's future love life. ;)

**LoveHopes:** Thanks! Yep, that deal is bound to cause some interesting situations. ;D

**EspeonAngel:** Glad that someone said something about Mark. :) Thank you for the great and funny comment, those really keep me wanting to write more. :D

**hunterthewerewolf:** Yikes! Then i guess i'll have to do my best. :D

**shadowglove:** Yep, Scar is going to go completely crazy if he finds out about it. And Stealth knows that. We will see what kind of plans he's got for Scar and especially for Lex. xD

* * *

Nothing could've calmed Lex down more in those corridors than knowing Scar was there with her. The warrior was walking beside her, explaining everything he had heard from Vincent when he had been held captive. The woman listened quietly as he described to her the beacon that the scientists had developed and the predator they had succeeded in capturing, but who hadn't survived the cruel experiments. At least that explained the origin of the strange mask Scar had worn.

The object in question was now hanging on the hunter's waist, swinging slightly as he strode with long steps, moving a little slower than usual so that Lex could keep up. She had asked him why he wasn't wearing the mask anymore especially now that they were up against xenomorphs, but the answer had been clear. Stealth wasn't wearing one either. That much the woman could claim to understand the predators' or at least Scar's and Stealth's way of thinking that she knew it was all a competition for them. Some kind of a foolish adolescent macho-male competition.

Scar was obsessed about defeating Stealth and he wanted to do it while they were equally matched. Winner would be the one with more trophies to show at the end of the day.

The thought of the hunters' urge to compete brought a sudden insight to Lex's mind. Maybe that had something to do with why Stealth was always harassing her. Or maybe he envied Scar. As soon as the thought entered the woman's mind, she realized how ridiculous it sounded.

If anything, Stealth just hated to see Scar happy. But then again, he had treated her the same already before he had learned that she and Scar… knew each other.

That was another thing Lex still couldn't sort out. What was the situation between them? Scar had made it obvious that he was interested in her in more ways than one, but damn it, what did she want herself? The very question she had been pondering and avoiding all day.

Looking at the warrior who was still talking to her, even though she hadn't been listening for a while, seeing his imposing posture and well-built figure, it was easy to believe that he wouldn't have had any difficulties in finding a wife, or whatever they called their companions, amongst his own kind. Not that she knew anything about their customs or likings.

"You're doing it again."

Lex was brought back to reality by the change in Scar's tone of voice. The predator kept on walking without even glancing at her, but the woman noticed an almost imperceptible twitch in his mandibles. Like he had been holding back laughter.

"You were staring at me the same way you did before when I was carrying you to the caves. Will you tell me this time what's going on in that head of yours?"

"Why should I?" Lex defended, giving the hunter a challenging look, which he returned amused.

"Because you were thinking about me, as you did last time and I want to know what is it that you're too embarrassed to share with me."

"You should be focusing on watching our surroundings, not guessing my thoughts, which by the way aren't anything like you seem to be imagining."

Lex bit her lip frustrated. How was it that every time they had a conversation, it turned out like this? And why did she always go along with it? Her stomach was twisting and she knew exactly why. She couldn't have gotten a better chance to talk things through with Scar. It terrified her more than anything else. Except for the continuing uncertainty.

Scar was enjoying their little argument so much that he didn't notice anything being wrong until Lex stopped dead. He looked inquiringly at the woman, who he could see, was having an inner struggle.

"Scar…"

Why did it have to be so hard? Lex swallowed nervously and forced herself to walk past Scar to avoid facing him. Just get it over with.

"What do you want from me?" She stopped again, eyes cast down, feeling the predator's intense stare on the back of her head. "I mean…"

That was as far as the woman got with her explanation when Scar silently appeared behind her and wrapped his massive arms around her, capturing her in a tight hold and keeping her from escaping.

"Isn't it obvious? I want _you_."

That sent shivers down Lex's spine and made her feel things that both scared and excited her. She closed her eyes for a while, allowing herself to enjoy the warmth that was radiating from the warrior. Why couldn't she give in and just see what would happen? She was already starting to lose control near Scar. Sooner or later she would end up doing something she would most likely regret anyway.

A small part of the woman still resisted however. "What do you think is going to happen when this is over? I can't come with you anymore than you can stay here."

"I'm willing to stay", Scar answered without any hesitation. "And I _will_ stay, if you won't come. I want you as my mate."

A strong blush spread on Lex's face. The predator's unwavering words made her objections sound pointless. "But… I'm not sure if I can let myself… feel anything. This is just going to get too complicated for both of us."

"Do you think you can suppress your feelings after I awaken them a little?"

The woman's eyes widened when she realized Scar's intentions. She couldn't have stopped him even if she had wanted to. And they both knew that wasn't what she truly wanted.

The predator leaned closer, one of his mandibles brushing against Lex's neck while he inhaled her scent. Once again since the caves, he was struck with an overwhelming desire to forget caution and do what he wanted with the woman. More than slightly reluctantly he fought back his urges, instead advancing slowly.

"S-Scar… don't…" Lex pleaded faintly, losing the consistency of her thoughts as the hunter slid one hand under her sweater, moving it around and teasing her skin from various sensitive places. The breath on her neck had become quicker and felt hot as did the hand that was so intrusively feeling her. The hand travelled up, finding its way to her breasts and squeezing the other one carefully. Then, moving it so that he could use his thumb better, the predator began rubbing her nipple slowly, torturing the woman as much as he was torturing himself.

But as quickly as he had started, Scar pulled his hand back and straightened himself up, leaving both arms loosely around her. Lex stood perfectly motionless, her thoughts impossible to guess.

"Can you still say you don't feel anything?" The warrior asked quietly, trying to get his own pulse to settle.

The woman pushed his arms away angrily and stormed away without looking back. "I see you can be just as big of an asshole as Stealth!"

Scar wasn't all that surprised of Lex's reaction, but he really wished she hadn't compared him to Stealth. Despite how angry the woman seemed to be, he had seen her surrender to him and was sure it would happen again. He would just have to wait for a better opportunity. Now they had other things to do and he had to stay focused on them.

Lex was already opening the door that led to the elevator and Scar guessed it would be best for him to go after her, when the woman suddenly gasped sharply.

The warrior was with her in an instant, ready to extend his wristblades in case of any danger. There was no need for that yet, but the sight that awaited them, promised that there could be in the near future.

The front of the elevator looked almost like a small bomb had gone off in there. Its doors were twisted outwards and the floor and the nearby walls were spotted with tiny holes. A faint sulphur-like scent floated in the air, just clearly enough for Lex to detect.

"What the hell happened here?"

* * *

How could this happen? Annie asked herself for the hundredth time after leaving the elevator. She was aware that Antonio kept glancing in her direction worriedly, but she didn't care to assure him that she would be fine. She was nowhere near fine.

Antonio knew… knew why Mark had been so important to her from the beginning. Still neither of them had done anything when he had fallen. Antonio had even stopped her from going to his aid. Instead of helping, they had run as fast as they could while dragging Keith with them.

Annie couldn't even fear the horror that might have already come after them; she was too angry and grief-struck to be scared. If anything, she wanted revenge. And not just on the creature. She knew where it had come from, even though she had never before seen anything like it. Keith could have told more, but she knew enough of its origin.

It was Vincent's responsibility. He had been working on something secret and was always stretching the rules. That man would pay for what had happened, no matter what reasons he might have had to release that thing. Mark had been like a son she had lost a long time ago and nothing could stop her from extracting vengeance on those who had taken him away from her.

* * *

It would have probably been more merciful to fall down the shaft and face a swift, relatively painless death, but still dazed, Mark realized he was clinging onto a wire that was hanging from the bottom of the elevator, like his life… well, his life was depending on it. Too bad the acid had done its damages and his weight was too much for the wire to withstand. The youngster swung to the side once before it snapped, sending him falling down once again into the deepening darkness.

Even with little light, Mark caught a glimpse of pipes coming out of the wall, close enough for him to reach. As soon as he realized they could be his salvation, he crashed right on top of one of them.

The horizontal, about thigh-thick pipe was conveniently apart from the wall, so the youngster could easily throw his arms around it before he would have slid off. Luckily the fall hadn't been too long or the speed might have made him only bounce right off painfully. He had already felt the bump on his side and other arm hard enough.

For a moment there Mark did nothing, but clung onto the pipe for his life, listening to his blood coursing through his veins and his heart pumping it in high-speed, his only thought the amazement caused by the fact that he was still alive. A joy that wasn't necessarily going to last long.

A metallic clank from above made the young man look up alarmed, revealing him the whole nightmarish situation he was in. The creature had followed him.

If Mark's weight had been resting on his feet, they would have failed him the second he saw the black figure crawling down the wall straight towards him. The youngster turned his eyes away horrified, ready to jump rather than wait and figure out what would happen if he stayed there.

Barely sustaining some kind of self-control, he wrapped his legs around a nearby, vertical pipe and started to descend faster than would have been safe. All the time he could hear steady thumps above him, gradually gaining him. A cold sweat rose on Mark's forehead and he began praying for any kind of a miracle.

Then the vices stopped. Mark nearly lost his grip when his feet suddenly met nothing but air where the pipe turned and vanished inside the wall. He squeezed the pipe, his breath wheezing in his lungs and closed his eyes, finally facing the truth that he had nowhere to run. He could only keep on climbing down and when he would reach the bottom…

The pipe he was hanging on started to tremble violently and a second later something crashed loudly into the opposite wall. Mark turned to look at the monster that had leaped behind him and was preparing to attack. Time slowed down in his eyes, making every move and sound seem crystal clear.

He let go.

The creature flew through the air with a blood-chilling shriek, perhaps because it noticed that its prey had managed to avoid the final blow, even if only for a moment. It didn't really matter to Mark. His thoughts faded away when he hit the bottom. He was aware only of the pain and the light that mysteriously pierced the darkness. He lay still, looking into the light, half-expecting it to come closer and surround him as he would die.

It stayed somewhere above the youngster, however, and after his mind was starting to clear, he realized where it came from. The doors to the lower floor had been opened somehow and the lights were shining into the shaft. He wasn't dead after all. At least not yet.

A shadow shifted at the doorway, but Mark had no reason to get up anymore. He knew it wouldn't miss this time. He closed his eyes scared, having lost all hope of making it out alive, begging in his mind for a quick end…

…And flashed his eyes open when something exploded up in the hallway.

He still saw the creature standing in the doorway, but it took him a while before his mind registered that there was something wrong with it. Mostly the fact that it was now missing half of its head.

As if only waiting for the youngster to notice it, the creature swayed forward and fell limply down into the shaft, landing fortunately far from him. Its blood formed a puddle under the creature, quickly starting to corrode the floor.

Not until another figure covered the doorway, Mark understood what had happened. He couldn't stop tears from filling his eyes as he shakily waved hid hand at the shotgun holding sheriff.

"Are you alright there, boy?" The grey-haired man leaned closer to the edge to see the remains of the creature better and shook his head in disbelief. "All kinds of things I've taken down in my youth, but this is one story no one is going to believe."

* * *

Stealth's senses were at their sharpest, as always when he was hunting. Still, a part of his mind was concentrated on other things. As amusing as playing with the human woman was, he wasn't completely satisfied. He was yet to reach his original objective and his patience wouldn't last forever. Somebody else would have already forgotten it and moved on, but that wasn't like Stealth. If he once made up his mind, he wasn't going to give up until he would get what he wanted.

A distant sound awakened the hunter fully back to the present. He heard clumsy steps and someone speaking in a low voice.

"Next time I'll get to be the one carried around."

"Keep your mouth shut before you draw some other creature's attention to us."

A man and a woman. Both voices that he knew on top of all. They were still pretty far, but coming in his direction. Stealth stopped to ponder his options. The deal was that he could not harm these pathetic humans. He could easily avoid them, but still, they could prove somewhat amusing. And he hadn't yet paid back for his humiliation. Besides, if these humans would attack him first, he would have the right to return the favour, deal or no deal and whether the woman liked it or not.

Maybe he should pay the humans a visit after all.


	23. A new game

Long time, no update. But finally it's done. xP It's taking me so long mainly because i'm going to both work and school nowadays and it's really draining my energy and free time. I'll try to organize my use of time more efficiently so maybe next chapter will be up a little faster.

**Lady Natsume:** Well, now you got me thinking about it. ;) I'll see what i can do.

**Angle1:** Thank you! 3 :D Stealth sure seems to be everyone's favourite.

**ANguyen504:** If you're waiting for someone who will stand up to Stealth, i guess you're going to like this chapter. ;D And i know, i could volunteer for the job myself. xDD

**Jezebelle666:** And thank you for the great comment. :) I'm really trying to keep the tension between Scar and Lex there for as long as possible, otherwise things could get quite boring in my opinion. And about the developments between them, i think Scar seriously intends on staying with Lex, but you never know what fate has in store for them.

**Annie777:** Thank you! :D Don't worry, i'm going to watch carefully not to do anything bad with Stealth. I love him just the way he is now. :) And he might be getting that action pretty soon. xD

**xYuna:** Even after fandom change? That means a lot to me. :)

**MeEksiNs:** Thanks! :) I just didn't have the heart to let Mark die like that. And i'm so glad Stealth has so many fans. :D

**hunterthewerewolf:** Okay, okay, i'll update... xD And thanks! :)

**EspeonAngel:** Great that someone likes Mark that much. :D Yes, he'll stay alive.... for now. Mwahahahahaa!!! xD But seriously, not sure yet. I'll have to see where the story takes him.

**Taladarkiejj:** Don't worry about the reviewing. I'm happy that you're still reading and liking my story. :D

Don't own Scar or Lex etc etc...

* * *

"Where was that damn emergency exit again?" Antonio murmured absent-mindedly to himself. "I have never had to use them before."

Annie said nothing to the man's pondering; just gritted her teeth, understanding that he was only getting started.

"Why didn't we put any signs or maps out into the corridors? This place is built like a maze."

How could the man be whining about such trivial things at a time like this? The short-haired woman's anger was very close to erupting, but somehow she held it inside.

"And our budget is pathetic. We need sponsors."

Annie remained silent.

"Next time I'll get to be the one carried around."

Annie couldn't stay silent anymore.

"Keep your mouth shut before you draw some other creature's attention to us."

Antonio opened his mouth to retort, but decided then to let it go. He was aware of how strangely he was behaving. Could he be blamed for that? Meeting aliens with acidic guts was not a part of his normal daily schedule. Outwards, he may have seemed functional, but it was the way he was talking without thinking that revealed how shaken he really was.

They continued walking in silence, the only noise coming from Keith's feet as they dragged him between them. Still they just barely heard the sudden clank ahead of them. Old arguments were forgotten in an instant as they glanced at each other briefly.

"I'll go check it out", Antonio whispered and almost dropped Keith on the floor. "Wait here."

Doubting strongly the temperamental woman's willingness to do as told, the man sneaked quickly through the corridor, keeping his gun near him. He saw windows and behind them empty rooms, none of which offered any explanation to the sound. Then he noticed one, slightly open door that was different from the others. There was no light behind it.

It didn't necessarily mean anything, but still it made warning bells ring in Antonio's head. If he had been a blood-thirsty alien, he would have hung out in dark places. He was trying to figure out what to do when Annie appeared beside him with her blade in hand and a tense look on her face.

"Let's go skin that son of a bitch."

Antonio smothered a curse and pulled the woman away from the door, more than a little worried about the fact that she was starting to remind him of the predators.

"First of all: you're _not_ going in there. Second: _I'm_ not going in there either. And third: have you lost your mind or are you just taking it out for a walk?!"

Annie shook her hand free from the man's grip with such fury that he feared for a moment that he would actually have to fight with the woman to get her leave.

"So maybe I have", she hissed loudly, making Antonio glance nervously behind him at the door. "And there's nothing you can do about it. I'm not leaving before I have made sure every one of those hell's bugs have been exterminated for good."

The man shivered unintentionally, not because of the woman's words, but because they made him realize something he hadn't thought of before.

"Vincent wouldn't let all of them out; it would be way too risky."

A man seeking vengeance is capable of anything. I have already seen it while working with him."

Antonio fell silent for a while, staring blankly at the woman. "What about a woman seeking vengeance?"

Annie's face revealed the obvious truth before she even answered. "I'll do what has to be done."

Now Antonio's anger was starting to surface. "You don't have to do anything else than to help make sure those who are still alive also get the hell out of here in the same condition. Annie… you may be a good scientist and a good soldier, but right now you're not thinking like either of them. If this has something to do with what happened to your son, you'll have to get over it and fast…"

A small part of the man wondered how he hadn't considered the possible consequences of his words before Annie's fist met with his face.

Antonio stumbled a few steps back dazed, reaching for support from the wall behind him, but instead, fell against the open door and into the dark room.

Annie wasn't a least bit sorry to see the man fall hard on his back. He couldn't have chosen a worse time or place to annoy her.

She would have continued with a verbal beating, if a huge figure hadn't just walked out of the shadows, making her breath stop short.

* * *

Stealth had had enough of listening to the two humans. He stepped into the light, right behind the human man lying on the floor. The man didn't even realize he was there, but the sudden scent of fear in the air told him that at least the other human had noticed him.

"Behind you!" The woman managed to scream a warning, even though it didn't really make any difference. Stealth could have killed both of them if he had wanted to. Finally the man turned his head to look up and his face froze with the shock of seeing the predator hovering above him.

Stealth had been hunting long enough to know exactly what was going to happen next and didn't even blink when the human raised his arm to shoot him. That was just what he had been expecting. Now he wasn't the one that had attacked first.

Faster than the man could get his arm up, the predator brought his foot down heavily on his stomach. The pained groan as all the air escaped the man's lungs made the hunter form a twisted smirk on his mandibles. The gun fell to the floor and the only thing keeping Stealth from slicing the irritating human in two as he moved his foot and lifted him in the air by his throat, was the deal with Lex. He didn't want to break it, not because it would have been dishonourable, but because it would have meant defeat in the little game he had come up with. The rules were not to be broken and the game was interesting only as long as it was challenging.

The warrior didn't have to ponder his next move when things took a turn on their own.

The woman moved quietly, but had no hope of comparing to the skills of a natural hunter. Stealth tossed the man contemptuously aside after giving him one last punch that knocked him out. Then he turned to confront the woman who, he knew, was certainly trying to get the gun. But since he was standing almost next to it, she could never get that close without being caught.

He didn't guess that she would be crazy enough to do it anyway.

The woman dashed without hesitating, reaching for the weapon as Stealth reached for her. They collided hard and to the predator's surprise, he felt a sharp pain on his side.

The fact that he hadn't seen the hidden weapon or anticipated the attack, made him angrier than the pain itself. He grabbed the woman forcefully by the arm as she tried to back away and hurled her past him, further into the dark room.

* * *

Annie was beginning to understand, even in the middle of her temporary madness, that she hadn't really thought this through. She was just so angry. She had realized that the reason why Vincent had set the aliens free was standing right in front of her. It didn't lessen her hatred for the man, but now she had something to focus it on. With all the hate and frustration she had gathered, she had against all common sense attacked a being considerably bigger and far more dangerous than her.

Still not even when the predator flung her onto the floor, the only thing Annie regretted was not been able to cause him more damage. Her adrenalin level was through the roof and her heart seemed to be trying to break free from her chest, but surprisingly her mind was calm and clear. And she wasn't afraid anymore.

Annie clenched the knife and the gun she'd snatched before bumping into the hunter and turned on her elbows to face the coming attack. Her bizarre serenity helped her realize many things simultaneously. The hunter she had just pissed off was approaching fast, her attack had done basically nothing and she was holding the gun the wrong way.

The woman's mind was screaming for her to get out of the way and she sure had no objections to that. The predator was almost in front of her when she got moving and got up on her knee with a backwards somersault, working feverishly to get a better grip of the gun before it would be too late. The woman stood up raising her eyes…. and staring right into the crab-like face towering above her. She saw clearly the cold eyes that seemed to have a golden glow even in the dim light.

The son of a bitch was really fast.

A swing of one massive arm hit Annie's arms that she had lifted to shield herself, softening the blow a little bit, but still sending her flying to the wall behind her.

This time she didn't fall down, but stayed on one knee, holding both weapons tightly with her head hanging and throbbing. That was, however, the least of her problems. The hunter would soon come after her again, she heard him making those clicking sounds somewhere ahead of her.

Annie threw the knife, her head still down, aiming at the sounds in a desperate attempt to buy some time. She didn't pay attention to the irritated growl or to the painful bruises she had gotten, as she held the gun with two hands and pushed herself on her feet using the wall to support her. Her hands aimed the gun at the predator as quickly as his hand came up and closed around her throat.

There the situation froze.

The short encounter had made Annie breathe heavier, but her hands kept the gun steadily in front of the warrior's face. She still wasn't afraid, not even though she felt the sharp claws pressing into the skin of her neck and her pulse drumming against the powerful fingers. She was able to breathe easily, so apparently the mighty hunter didn't trust too much in his chances of dodging a shot fired right in his face. On the other hand, both of them knew that if the woman now even twitched her trigger finger, she at least, would be dead for sure.

So they both waited for the other one to make the first move.

Locked in a mental duel, they stared each other relentlessly in silence, weighing their adversary and trying to read their intentions. An inhumanly strong, gigantic warrior against a small human woman.

Stealth wasn't sure what to think.

He had bit by bit come to the conclusion that the feisty woman would make an excellent hunting trophy, but unlike most of his kind, he often had other interests too than collecting skulls. And right then, he was in a playful mood and very curious about the new woman that didn't seem to fear him anymore. A fact he could easily change. He just had to be careful not to harm her. Too badly.

Stealth tilted his head and gave a predatory grin, observing the woman's expressions. He noticed she winced slightly, which made his grin turn even wider.

"What will you do now… human?"

Surprise wiped the defiance off from the woman's eyes, but only for a moment. In a second she was gazing at the predator with cold hatred again, seemingly not caring that the hand that was capable of breaking her neck, was still on her throat.

"You can stop that right away", she announced with an emotionless voice that didn't match the anger in her eyes. "You're not going to play your games with me. I saw how you treated Lex. I heard what you two talked about and I know a sick bastard when I see one. Now you will remove you hand or we will find out if you're a bullet proof bastard."

The woman's demand made Stealth burst into harsh laughter. "An interesting… game."

The hunter's free hand moved faster than Annie could react, capturing both of her hands and turning the gun harmlessly aside. The woman's furious struggle ended quickly when Stealth tightened his grip on her neck warningly. The predator forced the woman's small hands on her chest and leaned closer, brushing against her lightly and enjoying the feel of her pulse quickening.

"But I've got… a better one."

The woman was clearly getting nervous, turning her eyes away angrily. Stealth moved his grip up to her chin and made her look back at him.

"And now you're playing it… whether you want it… or not."

Stealth maybe couldn't harm these people, but there were many other ways he could have his fun especially with this woman.


	24. Let's play

I. Sincerely. Apologize.

I can't even remember how long it has been since the last chapter. All i can say, is that i've gotten my inspiration back. And even though it took this long to continue, i never thought of not finishing this story. Thank you so much for having incredible patience.

**Taladarkiejj:** NOOOO, i will never give up on this. :O Thank you for still commenting after such a long time. :)

**Angle1:** Yep, you never can be sure what Stealth is up to. :)

**Zarsthor:** Thanks for the good critique, i appreciate it. :) I agree with you about Scar's personality, i gotta say it's a bit difficult to make a love story between Scar and Lex and try to keep him all predatory. :P As for Lex, i'm trying to balance between keeping it realistic and still not to make her appear weak. Especially after seeing the new avp game's predators i became convinced that a single human shouldn't be able to defeat a predator in close combat unless they were Schwarzenegger or Chuck Norris. xD And even then with good luck.

**Army of Smith:** THANK YOUUU! :D I can't wait to write those.

**PrincessChitra:** Thank you! I love it when people compliment Stealth. xD

**zerOtodona:** Thank you thank you thank you! :D And sorry for making you wait.

**EspeonAngel:** I think i broke your record about updating late. xP Thank you for commenting and yay for us perverts! :D

**hunterthewerewolf:** Sorry you didn't like the last chapter so much. :P Now i'm afraid that my writing's a little rusty, but i'll do my best from now on. x) And i'll also try to get on reading those stories of yours.

**Annie777:** Yeees, i am evil xD Don't worry, Stealth and Annie are going to have lots of fun before this is over. Or at least Stealth is. xP About Scar and Lex's future... well, i can't give any spoilers now can i? ;)

**ANguyen504:** Thank you! :D Stealth is so much fun to write about. Oddly though it seems i can't control what he does or even understand how he thinks all the time, so things sometimes take a different turn that i had at first intended. I think he's having mood swings. x)

**Stebba stud28:** I'm certainly thinking about it, and eventually i probably will write one, but for now i have to see where the plot goes. :)

**MountainBlade:** I'm fine, thank you for asking. :) And better now that i've gotten back to writing. I'll definitely check out your stories. Thank you for still writing to me after all this time. :)

* * *

He thought he heard shouting, but the surrounding cloud of darkness held him in deep unconsciousness…

For a moment, Antonio had no clue of his whereabouts or why his face was so sore. Then he managed to open his eyes one at a time and after some effort, focus them on the woman leaning over him.

Annie.

And behind her, a predator.

Antonio couldn't have sat up any faster if he had a rabid xenomorph attached to his rear. Annie hurried to stop the man before he would do something unhealthy.

"Calm down!" She commanded, pressing her hands against the man's shoulders, knowing that he would not do as said, especially after hearing what she had planned.

Antonio kept looking from the woman to the humanoid warrior and back, suspecting obviously that someone had gone crazy, but wasn't sure who. "B-but… what… how…"

That's all the bewildered man seemed to be able to articulate. Annie lowered her hands and sighed. "He's not going to kill us; he's going to hunt the xenomorphs."

The woman could have as well tried to convince him that tyrannosaurus rex was really a vegetarian, Antonio wasn't buying it and he didn't hesitate to share his thoughts.

"We're alive", Annie said with an edge in her voice. "Isn't that enough for now?"

It was clear that the woman was riled and tense, which Antonio knew, were partly because of him, but there was something else to it. He glared at the predator, who was standing near the door and tried to imagine what had happened while he had been out cold. He had already twice witnessed very questionable situations between the hunter and Lex, and even though he hadn't at first thought about it, the consequences of their failure with the ambush earlier had forced Antonio to do so now.

Still, he could hardly bare to finish his thoughts. That Stealth, as he remembered Lex had called this hunter, had acted as if he was going to… like he had wanted to…

No. The man couldn't think about it anymore. It was absurd. And if he was right about things, it would also mean that the other predator, Scar, and Lex might…

No. The mere thought was sickening.

"Hey!"

Annie had said something. Antonio looked at her with a dull look on his face, doing his best to recall what. The woman noticed this and frowned irritated.

"What wonderland are you living in? Take these."

The man stared in confusion at the gun and a small metal cylinder with a lid which Annie had thrown in his hands, and her next announcement wasn't exactly lifting his confusion.

"I'm leaving. Make sure Keith drinks this, it should help him on his feet."

Antonio turned towards the door to find out that the injured man had been moved next to it. Not until then he realized what the woman had just said.

"Leaving? What do you mean? Where?"

Annie's face hardened as she turned her back to him. "To get my revenge."

Much to Antonio's shock she walked without hesitation to the predator, who grabbed a large knife from his belt and handed it to her as if part of some kind of a deal. One last, crushing glare from the woman kept Antonio quiet, as he could only watch defeated at the exiting duo, still trying to figure out how this had happened.

* * *

(Earlier)

Annie waited with her heart pounding for the predator's next move. That's all she could do and it made her furious. Not to mention how uncomfortable she felt under his piercing gaze, not being able to move an inch. She didn't even want to imagine what the warrior was thinking. She could already tell by the look in his eyes that he was planning something for her in his twisted mind. And there was little chance she could get him to leave her alone no matter what she said or did.

So what do you do when you can't beat someone?

A thought so unthinkable came to her mind that she almost laughed out loud. Still at the same time she knew it would be the only way to get what she wanted. If only she knew how Lex had done what she was about to do.

Apparently the predator had also come up with something, for suddenly he released his hold on Annie's throat and moved slightly back. The woman's hands remained captured, which was probably just a good thing considering that she was still holding the gun. And the smug warrior's eyes were travelling up and down her body so boldly that Annie was feeling irresistible urge to hurt him. Badly.

"Fine", she said in a low voice, with as much contempt as she could include in one word. "If you prefer playing your adolescent games then let's play. We'll just see what a 'superior' race you really are."

Stealth clicked, his mandibles twitching a couple of times. Annie went silent, looking at the predator's expression that had changed. It was still scrutinising, but more serious now. Then he surprised her by talking.

"Why aren't you… afraid… like the others?"

Annie was too dumbstruck to remember what she had been about to say, but it didn't matter as the words came out in an angry flow. "Why am I not afraid? You want to know why I'm not AFRAID!? One of those fucking bugs just attacked us and killed my friend, now they're probably all running around here, killing people and when they're done here, they'll find a way out and kill a lot more people and it's all because you and your bloodthirsty race decided to come here to play!!"

The woman was screaming towards the end, trying with all her strength to fight off the predator. Stealth waited until the woman gave up her futile efforts and continued with the same pondering tone.

"You want… vengeance."

It was a statement, not a question. Annie was still fuming, but she couldn't help but wonder why the hunter was acting so strangely.

"What do you know about vengeance?"

The warrior's face was as unreadable as his words. "I know that you will… never find peace…if you don't get it."

The look in the yellow eyes of the predator had become absent as he spoke and even though not wanting to, Annie felt a spark of curiosity. At that moment the pressure around her hands vanished and before she could realize she was free, the warrior had already stridden halfway through the room and was headed to the door.

"H-hey! What?!" For a second there Annie was too stupefied to react and not until the predator had reached the doorway did she regain her ability to speak. "Wait!"

She hadn't really expected him to do as told, but he stopped, casting an unrelenting gaze at her. Annie didn't hesitate one bit under the intensive stare; she couldn't show any weakness now, that much she knew. She was determined to execute her own plan to make sure the bugs were exterminated and that the guilty ones got what they deserved.

"I thought you wanted to play games? Let's play then." Annie returned the gun to its place and put her hands on her hips defiantly. "I'm coming with you."

For a highly intelligent being, it sure took the hunter a notably long time to understand what she had said. The crab-like mandibles were shifting as the warrior was thinking. Annie couldn't decipher the expressions on the strange face, but she could have sworn that he was at least considering it, otherwise he would have just said no and left.

"I know this place a lot better than you", Annie rationalized and walked confidently in front of the predator, even though he was towering high above her and she had to look up to meet his eyes. "Besides I can take care of myself."

The warrior uttered a laugh, but for some reason for the first time there was no sting of sarcasm in it. "That's what you… seem to think."

It seemed to be settled then and neither of them said anything for a while, both of them assessing the odd situation they had ended up in. Annie turned to look at Antonio who was still laying unconscious, and rubbed her forehead, remembering something urgent.

Keith was still in bad shape.

Annie would have wanted to go as soon as possible and now she would have to waste time by helping Antonio drag the injured man out.

Stealth read the woman's mind from her face and knew she would ask him to wait until she'd gotten the others out of the way. He had no intentions of waiting for any human. There was another way though.

"Here", the hunter's gruff voice stopped Annie just when she was about to go wake up Antonio. The woman glanced inquiringly at the predator, especially when she saw that some kind of a cylinder shaped metal object had appeared in his hand.

"Give this… to the wounded human", Stealth instructed, having to focus to keep away a grin as the short-haired woman's expression became suspicious. "It will get him… on his feet… most likely."

Annie didn't trust the unpredictable warrior and she liked the words 'most likely' even less. But now there were many other lives at stake too and she couldn't afford to lose time any more than necessary.

Annie sighed resignedly. She was pretty sure a deal with the devil would have been more recommendable, but right then she didn't like the alternatives.

Driving away her doubts, Annie raised her hand to take the offered object before the hunter would change his mind. She could barely graze it with her fingertips when it disappeared from her reach.

The woman's eyes darkened when she glared at the predator who had pulled his hand back and stared at her, apparently pondering something again.

"Just… one thing", he spoke with an infuriatingly casual tone, like they had been talking about the weather. "When that human… mentioned your youngling… you attacked him. Why?"

Hatred melted away from Annie's eyes, turning into shock and amazement as the predator managed to totally stun her. Her emotions changed rapidly, every one reflecting from her face. Uncertainty, disbelief and grief, the latter unmistakably obvious before the woman got them under control.

"That's not something you need to know", she said in an icy tone, but couldn't prevent bitterness from creeping in to her voice as she added quietly: "How could your kind even understand?"

It was impossible to tell what exactly kept intriguing the predator, but something did since he didn't give up.

"And this is not… something you… should have", the warrior reminded, playing with the cylinder in his hand. Then he caught it between two, clawed fingers and offered it again to the small woman, flashing a predatory grin that would have made anyone's skin crawl. "But I'm… willing to share."

This time Annie reached her hand slowly and the hunter didn't pull his hand back. He didn't let go of cylinder either, though. Annie forced herself to forget about the feelings that were lurking beneath the surface, waiting to overwhelm her again, and kept her eyes strictly on her own hand.

"My son died a long time ago… I don't want people talking about it."

The warrior said nothing and Annie wasn't intent on telling more. She grabbed the metal cylinder tighter and this time the predator let her have it.

Annie spun around and marched out of the room, into the hallway where Keith was still sitting against the wall and as unconscious as before.

Annie put the medicine in to her pocket and grabbed the man by his hands, dragged him into the room, quickly checked the bandages on his side and went to wake up Antonio.

"Oh, by the way", Annie turned her head slightly, but didn't look at the predator. "I'm giving them my gun. I need to make a stop and get a new one."

Stealth tilted his head and moved his hand on a hunting knife that was in its sheath on his belt. "You're welcome… to take this little human…it resists the blood of the bugs."

Annie took a quick glance at the weapon and made an approving sound, ignoring completely the mocking tone in the hunter's voice. It was better than her own knife, which was now somewhere on the floor of the dark room. She would just have to hang on until she could get more suitable weapons for herself.

Stealth followed the woman with her eyes as she began lightly slapping the man awake. The game had changed and waiting for the coming hunt made the muscular warrior feel more and more anxious, though outwards he seemed to be his usual calm and calculating self. Finding the fearless woman had also made things more interesting and would continue to do so, presuming she would survive the bugs. He was interested in seeing how long the woman would stay fearless.

And alive.


	25. Desperate situations

Finally another chapter. Thanks for waiting and commenting. :) I've been having some computer problems since my old laptop was struck by lightning. xP Don't have time right now to answer to any comments, but really thank you for writing them.

I do not own anything else but my own characters.

* * *

Their trip to the elevator had made two things clear to Lex. Vincent really had carried out his threat and released the xenomorphs, and someone had already encountered and defeated one. Acid had been splattered all around the front of the elevator and a quick peek down the dark elevator shaft revealed one of the aliens, lying at the bottom of a small pit, made by its own corrosive blood.

At first Lex thought about Antonio and the others who had been on their way to the elevator. Had they done this? It was hard to believe when she looked at the alien carcass. As far as she knew, one couldn't blow away half of its head with just a pistol and she was pretty sure that was all they had had when they left.

Lex turned to Scar to ask for his opinion on what had happened, but held her question when she noticed the look of concentration on the face of the large predator. He was watching something at the bottom of the elevator shaft.

"What do you see?" Lex asked with a voice barely louder than a whisper.

Scar didn't answer right away. His eyes travelled up the walls and didn't stray from whatever their target was even when he grabbed the mask from his belt and put it on.

Lex let her eyes take the same route, but saw nothing of interest despite the dead xenomorph. Not until she looked straight up. She distinguished a light that must had caught Scar's attention. The light shone through a gaping hole in the elevator's floor. Lex tried her best not to speculate what might had happened up there, but her mind betrayed her, offering one grim option after another.

"There's blood."

Lex winced as Scar suddenly spoke. His voice sounded metallic behind the mask, echoing dramatically, like spoken by the grim reaper himself. It filled her with a strong ominous feeling that left her staring speechless at the masked hunter.

Scar took the mask off and glanced at the woman, misunderstanding the silence and her baffled look.

"Human blood I mean", he specified and squatted next to Lex. "Come."

The odd feeling Lex had had, was shaken off by the strange comment. "Where to?"

The grin that lit Scar's face was as foreboding as his voice of doom a second ago. "I presume you would like to find out what happened here? So we have to climb up."

"Climb?" Lex crossed her arms across her chest and cast a look at the walls in the darkness, which had worryingly little surface to hang on, and then back to the predator with one eyebrow lifted. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but people don't climb up elevator shafts with their bare hands if that's what you thought. How exactly were you going to get us up there?"

The mischievous look didn't disappear for a moment from Scar's face as he answered. "That's the fun part. Hop on."

"Piggyback ride?"

"You didn't seem too eager to climb."

Lex glared at Scar, but keeping her resolve proved to be quite difficult when the gigantic and deadly warrior raised his eye ridges and cocked his head to the side innocently. "So you want a ride?"

Lex couldn't help, but give a small smile as she moved behind the predator. "Fine, but you better not drop me."

She wrapped her arms around Scar's neck and barely got her hands locked together when he was already grapping her legs and standing up. Being suddenly so close to the hunter caused an involuntary reaction and Lex's cheeks began burning red. She was glad Scar couldn't see her right then.

Lex tried to concentrate more on finding a better spot in the middle of all Scar's equipment and less on what he smelled like and how she felt his hard muscles moving against her every time he moved and how much she enjoyed that…

"Ready", Lex dragged her mind out of the gutter. She had other things to think about right now. "Are you sure you can do this?"

Scar turned his head towards her and Lex realized she was pressing her hands on his dreadlock-like hair.

"Sorry", she said and quickly moved her hands so that they were under the long dreads. Against his bare skin.

It was indeed a good thing he couldn't see her face.

Lex couldn't see Scar's face either, but she was certain that he was still grinning.

"Hold on and I'll show you how were going to get up."

Lex squeezed her legs tightly against the hunter's sides as he removed his hands, a little worried that she might somehow hurt him by doing so, no matter how unlikely she knew that was. She didn't like the situation at all. Climbing a mountain with good equipment was something she would never say no to; clinging to someone's back in an elevator shaft was another thing. She hated it when someone else was in control and she could only watch and see what happened. She hated having to trust someone else completely.

"Hold on tighter", Scar advised, walking to the edge.

"You just concentrate on not falling", Lex answered with a slightly tense voice as she looked up into the darkness. She obeyed, however, when the predator crouched and prepared to… jump?

After that Lex didn't care whether she was hurting the predator or not. They were in mid-air before she had the time to realize he had really jumped, and hit the opposite wall before she could even gasp in surprise. Lex was holding on so tight, her arms and legs would soon surely cramp.

Scar's tentacle-like hair chafed Lex's face when he turned to look over his broad shoulder to check on her. He chuckled softly, noticing how much tighter the woman's grip had gotten and even though they had stopped, she still didn't relax.

Hearing the familiar, and at that moment irritating, sound made Lex snap out of her daze and feel embarrassed. Good thing she hadn't screamed at least.

"Is it too much to ask that you'd warn me next time before you do something like that?"

"But that wouldn't be as funny", the predator stated like what he said should have been obvious.

"Then let's put it this way", Lex lowered her voice, trying to imitate the voice of doom and moved one hand enough to reach one of the warrior's long dreadlocks and caressed it gently. "I wonder if it would be as funny if I was hanging on to these while you were jumping."

"I'd rather you continued that", Scar purred. "It feels good."

Lex's hand stopped in the middle of a stroking motion and she could immediately hear a bark of laughter. "I guess you didn't know that our hair is much more sensitive than yours."

Lex wished that the predator would continue jumping already.

"Good to know", she commented bluntly. "So it probably would be funny for me to hold onto it."

Scar didn't give up so easily, he was set on continuing on the subject later. He turned sideways as much as he could and soon another leap made Lex hold her breath. Scar was moving completely confidently in an almost impossible environment, as if gravity was unable to touch him.

After getting over the first shock, part of Lex's nervousness vanished, making way for excitement and awe as she had front row seats for the gymnastics show that the muscular hunter was performing. One second they were flying in the air, then the predator's biceps were tensing as he pulled them higher, but never did she see any signs that it would have been even a bit difficult for him to move with the extra weight.

Too soon they reached the bottom of the elevator and Lex had to remind herself of their situation and the reason they were there.

And what might be lurking above them.

Before they would find out anything, they would first have to get to the elevator. Lex examined the hole they were supposed to go trough. A predator could fit through it, though it was a pretty tight squeeze, its edges jagged and sharp. Together they couldn't get through there.

That, however, didn't seem to be a problem in Scar's opinion since he was already preparing for the final jump. Lex ducked her head instinctively as they neared the elevator. She didn't see it, but she felt a tug when the warrior grabbed something. She raised her head again and saw that they were hanging from the edge of the hole.

And then she felt another tug…

…And realized that the elevator was about to fall.

* * *

They were no doubt the strangest couple on earth, or that's at least how Annie felt walking ahead the alien hunter. They travelled in silence, Annie leading the way to the gun storage.

She still hated the predator, Stealth, but now she had had time to think things over and the sizzling fury had subsided to radiating hatred. Even though she hated to admit it, Stealth's presence was convenient and necessary at the moment, with enemies as dangerous as the xenomorphs. About the predator's own motives to hunt with her she didn't know and didn't care.

The storage room was approximately in the middle of the vast floor, behind heavy doors and offering her everything she would need.

Then it would be bug season.

Annie picked up her pace and didn't slow down until she found the right door. It was a big room, with a few doors. The impatient woman fished her keys from her pocket and slammed the door open, her eyes already searching for weapons.

She didn't have to search for long; she spotted them on her right. A wave of relief swept over the woman as she switched the lights on and almost ran to open the cabinet that held her life insurance. The guilty ones would pay, even if it was the last thing she'd do.

Annie ignored the predator stepping after her into the room and therefore didn't see him suddenly tensing. Her hands were already seeking the weapons that would keep her alive. The stun guns Annie passed by without another look and instead grabbed a belt with two Magnums. She took a hunting rifle hanging on the wall and threw it over her head and on to her back. It would have felted good to arm herself to the teeth, but she decided it would be better to be able to move as quickly as possible.

Something caught Annie's eye. An icing on the cake. A dry smile lifted the corner of her mouth.

There just happened to be a couple empty spots for hand grenades on her belt.

It might have been a little over the top, but right then Annie was pretty sure that seeing some bugs been blown up would be fairly enjoyable.

Before she could take them, a sound from Stealth got her attention. He let out a growl, sniffing the air. Annie forgot about blowing things up and walked beside the predator.

"What is it?"

Stealth didn't pay any attention to her and that annoyed the woman. If he wasn't going to tell her, she would find out herself. Annie was about to go around a row of shelves when a heavy hand grabbed her by the shoulder, stopping her. The touch lit the woman's rage again and her first instinct was to turn and slap the hand away.

It wasn't an option, though; she realized when her effort had no effect to the iron grip holding her. Annie didn't have a clue as to what the predator was thinking, but she was been held in place easily as if she was a child.

"What's wrong with you?" She snapped, counting the odds to her survival if she would grab a gun.

Apparently the predator wasn't even listening to her; he just growled again and pushed her back. The woman stumbled a bit before regaining her balance, during which Stealth had vanished behind the shelves.

"What an insufferable asshole", Annie murmured half aloud and pursued, striding decisively around the shelves.

The words she had meant to throw at the predator froze and died before she could say them. She didn't think anymore, she grabbed a gun and fired it. Only after that, the situation registered as words into her mind.

The other side of the storage room was full of slimy eggs, and one of them had been hatching. A limp, grab-like creature with long tail had slumped onto the edge of the egg, where she had shot it and was slowly sliding until it fell to the floor.

Stealth spun around sharply and Annie saw that he had extended his wristblades.

"Not… a good idea", the hunter stated darkly and soon the woman found out why. She had made a mistake that most had the opportunity to make only once.

One at a time, the eggs started opening up like some grotesque flowers, and from each one a bundle of long, probing legs emerged, lured by the sounds outside. There were about twenty eggs and only two of them.

"Not a good idea", Annie repeated seriously. She pulled out another Magnum and aimed.


	26. Revelations

Her life definitely wasn't going in the direction she had imagined. When you happened to find yourself standing in a room with a colossal humanoid hunter from outer space and almost a couple of dozen freshly hatched facehuggers, you knew you'd made a wrong turn somewhere along the way.

Annie wished she had been carrying a flamethrower instead of two pistols.

Movement to her right.

Annie pointed her guns right just in time to see a spider-like creature flying towards her. She could see the thin, spread legs and the long tail swirling, reaching for her neck.

Then she saw something flashing in front of her face and was surprised when the facehugger suddenly changed direction and flew backwards.

"You are… too slow."

Annie still aimed at the now lifeless creature that had attacked her and said nothing.

She was too busy swallowing her pride.

Time, however, is rarely on anyone's side. More facehuggers had noticed them and if they all should attack simultaneously, not even the fast-moving predator would be able to stop every one of them. All it took was just one of those things latching itself on their face and it would be over.

Annie started backing down, careful not to make any sudden moves. Stealth looked at her direction and the woman got the impression of… disappointment on his face. Did he think she was going to run?

The predator stood still, clearly planning to fight the enemies as they came. For a brief moment Annie could see the code of honor that was guiding even the sly predator's actions in battle.

She retreated behind the shelves and couldn't see what was happening anymore. The hunter could face his foes eye to eye, but she was planning on improving her chances of survival.

After a quick update to her weaponry, Annie returned to the scene where almost all the eggs had now hatched and the facehuggers seemed ready to pounce at any time. Still, she felt much more confident now.

Stealth sacrificed another glance at Annie, who raised her hands and showed him the two grenades she was carrying. "You'd better use that speed of yours and get to cover."

The woman pulled the pins and calmly threw the explosives into the middle of the eggs, not caring whether the predator had enough time to figure out what she was doing. Not that he needed time. As soon as the grenades were in the air, the agile hunter was taking cover with the woman.

Their sudden movement triggered the reflexes of the newly-hatched facehuggers, and sensing their potential prey escaping, most of them leaped in the air, deadly missiles and together unstoppable.

The grenades exploded in the middle of the creatures, tearing everything around them apart, and in an instant, nothing was moving.

The human and the humanoid warrior returned to inspect the extent of the destruction. The warehouse was a lot messier than a minute ago. Annie's ears were ringing slightly; she hadn't covered them while running away.

"A couple more… of those and you… just might survive… a little longer."

Annie wasn't sure if the predator had meant his words as a compliment or an insult. Either way, she had only one answer for him.

"You saved me, God only knows why, and now I have done the same for you. We're now even."

Stealth tilted his head and seemed to ponder this. "You are right… you have my gratitude."

It hardly would have been possible to come up with anything more surprising than what the woman had just heard. Her jaw might have dropped if she hadn't reminded herself to keep her mouth closed. Why the hell had that bastard gone and said something like that now?

"Ummh… it was nothing… I mean I did it for myself also… and good that you helped me too…"

Annie wanted to smack herself to the head for her stuttering. Why was she explaining herself? The woman had no clue that while she was struggling with her thoughts, the predator was hiding a smirk which came from the triumph of finding another way to mess with her. Of course there had been no genuine gratitude in what he had said.

Annie aborted her mission to salvage what was left of her dignity and changed the subject to something she could control better.

"Anyway", she cleared her throat. "I don't know what your kind calls this type of a situation, but I have a fitting description for it and that's deep shit. For that is exactly where we are if this is what it looks like."

Annie looked at the destroyed eggs and parasitic creatures. "If we really are facing a queen."

Stealth couldn't deny the woman's statement. A queen would be a dangerous opponent and was usually fought with the combined strength and skills of several experienced warriors, not one warrior and one puny human. To fight such a powerful enemy alone would almost certainly mean defeat and death. Except that Scar had defeated one with the help of his human woman. Or so he had heard.

Anyway, to die in such a battle would be considered an honourable death and any blooded warrior would have accepted it with joy. That's what he knew was waiting for him too some day, after many hunts when eventually his spear would get heavier and new generations would be telling stories of his many battles.

Not yet. It wasn't time for that. Not before he could take care of some things on his home planet. There was no way a serpent, even if it was a queen, would keep him from returning there.

Stealth reached behind his back to get his toolset and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. He would have to spend time once more on fixing his wristdevice if he was going to survive. It wasn't just the queen; there had been something different about the facehuggers too.

Annie understood what the hunter was doing and didn't stay to watch his work. She started to walk around and search for something she knew she needed now. For some reason she couldn't concentrate properly as the predator kept crossing her mind. She was torn about him… it... whatever.

The woman found herself looking at him, against her intentions, and couldn't make any sense of her thoughts. The 2,5 meters tall predator was a peculiar sight, sitting on the floor, fiddling the beeping device like a child would do with a toy. Despite his intimidating appearance, when just sitting like that and concentrating, he didn't seem at all threatening at the moment.

Annie stood still for a while, until she got a certain decision made in her head. Then she returned to her searching with a steadier mind. She would have to inform the others about the queen too and somewhere inside this warehouse should be some walkie-talkies. If she was lucky, Antonio would still have his.

* * *

The predators were faster, stronger and tougher than humans, at least as intelligent and considerably bigger. Lex had known all that since the beginning. And to top it all, they turned out to have one more advantage compared to humans.

They didn't freeze in unexpected situations.

At the moment, they were high in the elevator shaft, Lex was hanging from Scar's back, Scar was hanging from a hole in the elevator and the elevator was hanging by a thread. Lex barely felt her arms and legs around the warrior, paralyzing fear flowing from the bottom of her stomach and into every part of her body.

"Climb!"

The woman heard the strict command, but it took her some effort to concentrate before she was able to understand its meaning. "What?"

"Get up now!"

The predator let his other arm go and for one frightening second Lex thought they were going to fall. Then she felt a strong hand pushing her up. That awakened her survival instincts and made her limbs move at haste.

Lex could see through the hole above them that only about half of the elevator had managed to get to the next floor. That would, however, be enough if only they would make it in time.

That sped things up. Lex moved faster, ditching her backpack and letting it fall after she had first salvaged something priceless: the combi-spear Scar had given her. That she threw ahead of her into the elevator climbing right after it. Scar was holding on with both hands again, since Lex didn't need help anymore. She had enough adrenaline flowing through her veins to get up fast.

Without her backpack she was able to pull herself through the hole with relative ease, pushing on the predator's broad shoulders with her feet. Despite her best effort to move carefully, as soon as Lex got her whole weight on the floor, they heard a new, creaking sound that made the woman's heart miss a beat. Suddenly the elevator dropped a little. Lex balanced on all fours and looked at the doorway, horrified. They were lower now and their escape route had gotten smaller. Soon there would be only one way they would be going.

Lex got to her feet, grabbing her spear with her, but lost her balance and was thrown forward as the elevator shifted again.

Time was up.

The ear torturing sound when the cables finally gave in to the gravity was like a dying scream to Lex. She lifted her arms high to grab to the edge, but instead of climbing up to safety, she turned her head to look back, where the hunter was still hanging dangerously.

"Scar, what are you d…"

"GO!"

Lex had no intention of listening, nor doing as told before she would see the warrior coming with her, but then without warning, her options were taken away. Her arms were grabbed tightly and against her will she was lifted up.

Lex had no chance of fighting back. She was out of the elevator before she even could yelp, pulled on her stomach by two men. One of them, the black-haired man would have had the lecture of his life coming to him if the last, howling creaks from the elevator hadn't silenced her. The she heard the snaps.

When she got on her knees and turned to look, the elevator was nowhere to be seen.

A brief, unnatural silence, during which Lex held her breath, ended with a sound like an explosion, with metal crashing and breaking as the elevator hit the bottom.

Lex felt sick. The breath she'd been keeping in, escaped shakily and her stomach felt like someone had squeezed it with two hands. Blood pounded in her ears and only one thought kept repeating in her head.

Scar had gone down with the elevator.

She couldn't believe it, everything felt unreal. She leaned closer to the edge to peer down into the darkness. Lex felt as lifeless as it looked like down in the bottom.

Antonio put his hand on the woman's shoulder. "I really hate saying this…"

"No."

Lex didn't say anything else to the man. Antonio wasn't even sure if she had said it to him or if it had been a futile attempt to deny reality. Either way he continued.

"As I was saying, I really hate saying this, because you know how I feel about that… friend of yours, but unfortunately there's no need for you to be upset."

Lex turned her head slowly to look at Antonio, clearly not understanding what he meant. The man sighed, looked away as if he couldn't stand to watch, and pointed up.

"He got through the ceiling before falling, the quick bastard."

Lex's heart started beating faster in hopeful anticipation, but it was not until she heard a heavy thump next to her that life began flowing back into her.

Scar stood there, alive, and offering his hand and an inscrutable look to her.

Lex stared back at him, trying to make sense of her feelings.

"Just look at this", suddenly Antonio was the first to break the silence. "I don't get it."

The large predator glared at the man, letting out a low, guttural sound. Lex quickly grabbed Scar's still offered hand and pulled herself up, gaining the warrior's attention to herself again. Before either of them could speak, Lex had taken a step forward and leaned her forehead against the cold metal of the predator's chest armor. She did that partly to hide the tears that threatened to fill her eyes, but whatever the other reason, it sure caught the two men as well as Scar by surprise.

A single tear escaped from the corner of the woman's eye and that made her snap out of her shock. She wiped it away and turned away from the predator, confused herself, and for the first time taking a good look at the two men.

"Keith?" She breathed surprised. She smiled to the big man, genuinely relieved that he was, by some miracle, okay. "You really should play the lottery with your luck. The last time I saw you, you were in pretty bad shape."

"Well you know", the man grinned and shrugged. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Antonio shook his head. "You're not going to believe what's been going on here. We ran into that other hunter and through some very shady events he gave us something… like the world's best energy drink or something. Whatever it was, it got Keith back on his feet."

Lex frowned worried and she and Scar shared knowing looks. What had Stealth wanted in return?

"I'm not sure I want to know more", Lex stated dryly. "But what happened? Where are Mark and Annie? I'm sure Annie can keep them both safe, but it would still be safer to move in one group."

Now it was the men's turn to share looks, with the difference that their eyes had something else besides knowledge.

Grief.

Immediately Lex's heart sank as she anticipated the worst. Antonio searched for the right words for a moment.

"We were attacked by a xeno in the elevator. It… got Mark."

Lex lowered her eyes and clenched the spear in her hand tighter. "And Annie?"

"Alive the last time I saw her. One of the shady events I mentioned was that she left with the other hunter. Don't bother asking for a reason, I really don't know."

The look on Lex's face went from dark to determined as she spoke, her eyes still towards the floor. "This cannot end like last time. I will not let everyone die one by one."

Everyone knew what she was referring to, even though only one of them had been there with her.

"If that is what you want", Scar said, looking at the motionless woman with sincerity. "Then I too will do everything to prevent that from happening."

Antonio let out a dry laugh. "Well Keith, shouldn't we be grateful."

Scar glanced at the annoying man and continued. "with some exceptions."

Lex lifted her gaze and met the predator's green-yellowish eyes. "I don't care what this looks like to others…" She too glanced at Antonio defiantly before finishing her sentence, saying the words from the bottom of her heart. " I want you to be careful too. I don't know what I would've done if you really had fallen back there. I… I don't want to lose you."

Lex's words were followed by a silence that, however, ended when a new, but familiar voice echoed from somewhere near.

"Hello? Is anybody there? Antonio?"

"Good timing", Antonio sourly picked up his walkie-talkie.

Scar didn't pay any attention to the man's comments anymore, he was too excited about what he had just heard. The only thing he saw then, was the woman he adored, shrugging and giving him a small, but warm smile. It was so different from the expressions his kind were used to, but every time he saw it on Lex's face, it made him feel something impossible for him to describe.

"Still here, Annie", Antonio replied to the walkie-talkie. "And I've got company. Lex and her escort just joined us."

"Hmm, I was wondering what had happened to them after we left."

"And by the way, that stuff your new companion most gracefully offered us, it really works. Keith was up on his feet in a minute."

"I gotta say", the large man took part in the conversation. "I've never felt better. It tasted terrible though and it has a long lasting after taste."

A hoarse laughter was heard from the background and followed by a sarcastic voice. "Surprising… that he is… even alive."

"You mean you weren't even sure that…" Annie started, sounding furious, but stopped her rant to a frustrated grunt and some silent muttering. "Forget it, I'm not even going to go there right now."

Scar shared his knowledge. "It works as medicine for us, but nobody has tried it on a human before as far as I know."

Annie sighed, and Antonio and Keith, who knew her better, were sure, she was rubbing her temple. "Alright, enough with that, this wasn't just a social call, listen."

The serious tone in the woman's voice made the others seize their questioning and expect bad news. Still, what they, stunned them all.

"There's a queen in this facility, we found eggs in the main warehouse."

Antonio was the first to react, the surprise most visible on his face. "But that's impossible, we've never had a queen here and if one had escaped from the first predator ship, the whole country would be crawling with facehuggers and xenomorphs by now."

Scar shook his head at the man's ignorance." It's not impossible. If the drones live long enough without a queen, one of them will change its sex and become their new queen."

Lex's face was emotionless. "They are capable of adapting to anything. How about it, do you feel like trying to control a full grown queen? Do you think you can even control the drones anymore?"

Antonio was still shocked and could do nothing, but come up with a flimsy defense. "I'm not sure about it anymore, but they still have the collars on them, except for the queen who most likely broke it when growing. We made safety mechanisms for them in case something unexpected happened. It works with a remote control that will cause numerous spikes to spring from the collar and spear their necks, nearly beheading them."

The man got some of his confidence back. "It's effective, I can promise you that. One button triggers the collar that is closest to it and the other everyone at once. And those things know it, they learned it when we tested it on one. They are intelligent enough to know better than to do anything stupid when they see the remote."

"Yes", Lex stated, now with a dead serious tone. "They are intelligent. And we have an intelligent queen playing it stealthy, hiding somewhere here, and we have no way of stopping it. Plus the drones will do anything to protect her."

Even Scar tensed slightly during Lex's words, remembering almost dying the last time he had faced a queen. He was a warrior, he wasn't afraid, but thinking of a fight with the queen made his old injury ache.

Antonio couldn't come up with an arguent to the woman and couldn't stop himself from glancing nervously over his shoulder. "Well, there are three controllers and my guess is that their all in Vincent's possession now."

Keith smacked his fist against the palm of his hand." I guess we'd better find the crazy bastard then. I'll admit he got us connections and private sponsors, but that doesn't justify for all of this. "I, for one, would like to have a little chat with him about work safety."

Annie's voice crackled on the speaker. "And I'll make sure when we find that little…hey! What do you think you're…"

The rest of the woman's words faded to the background and instead, the others started hearing strange clicking sounds that only one of them understood. Everyone turned inquiringly to Scar.

The predator seemed perplexed, which didn't actually ease anyone's mind.

"What did he say?" Lex asked, touching Scar's arm to bring him out of his thoughts.

It worked and Scar fixed his surprisingly humane eyes on Lex's. "He said that these hatchlings were different from normal."

"How?" Annie snapped, taking back her walkie-talkie. "I didn't notice anything and I've been studying these things very closely."

Once again, everyone heard the predator's sarcastic voice from the background, this time in English. "I didn't know… you managed to pay so much… attention to them… while you were so busy… blowing them to pieces."

To Annie's irritation, Keith laughed out loud at that. "That sure sounds like our mama bear."

Lex interrupted hastily, before the duo got too excited. "How bad is it that they're different?"

The question was aimed at Scar, but instead of answering, the predator moved his sharp-clawed hand to the borrowed mask on his belt. He raised it in front of him, looking at it with visible repulsion.

"I don't know, Scar said without moving his eyes away from the mask. "And that's why I have to see what happened to the other hunter that was here before us.


	27. A battle plan

Look, it's a miracle! A new chapter. :P

I don't own aliens or predators.

* * *

Everyone had taken a seat and all eyes were at the motionless predator. Lex was sitting next to Scar on the floor, watching carefully at every twitch or other tiny movement that might reveal what he was feeling. She couldn't see his face, since he was now wearing the mask of the dead warrior.

Antonio and Keith had joined them and together they had barricaded themselves inside an archive room to stay clear of any xenos wondering the hallways.

Scar hadn't said much when he had put the mask on and started going through its recordings. After that, everyone had fallen silent. Keith was sitting on a corner of some unknown worker's desk with his arms crossed over his chest, fairly calm. Antonio, on the other hand, was restless, switching between sitting and tapping his foot, and pacing back and forth in the room.

Scar was tense, Lex couldn't miss that. He looked like he was barely breathing. Lex didn't know what he was seeing, but whatever it was, it was clearly disturbing him.

At last after what seemed like an eternity, the predator scared everyone by jumping on his feet and letting out a growl that was so bloodthirsty, even Lex didn't dare to ask what had happened.

Apparently Scar had seen what he had been searching for or simply had enough, for the enraged hunter tore the mask off of his face and looked like he was about to hurl it straight to the nearest wall. Instead, he used whatever little self-control he had and squeezed the mask in his hand, staring at it like it was his worst enemy, before putting it back on his waist.

Antonio hesitantly raised the walkie-talkie in front of his face. "Erm… I think we got something."

Immediately Annie's voice echoed in the small room. "Let's hear it!"

The dark-eyed man glanced at the bad-tempered predator. "Just a sec", he said and threw the walkie-talkie and with it, the responsibility of questioning the large hunter to Lex.

She gave the man the evil eye and formed the word 'coward' silently with her mouth. Then she turned to Scar.

"What did you see?"

Scar looked at Lex and some of his anger mellowed into pain and grief. He reached out his hand and the woman, getting the message, handed him the walkie-talkie.

Keith hadn't moved from his spot. "This is bad, isn't it?" he said, stating what everyone else had already been thinking.

Nobody said anything, when Scar began speaking in their clicking language. The humans were disappointed at first, having thought they would hear right away what was going on. After what felt like a long conversation, they got what they wanted.

"These facehuggers… were different", the words from Scar were coming with unusual difficulty, which Lex presumed, was because of all the built up anger. "Because they didn't come from an ordinary queen."

Stealth said something in their language, but everyone, except for Annie, were too concentrated on Scar to pay any attention to him. Annie on the other hand, observed the unpredictable hunter closely. She could tell he was agitated and pretty much radiating hatred. She wondered what it was that could get this heartless and uncaring predator to react like that.

Then the pieces formed in her mind.

"Vincent infected the first hunter!"

Stealth turned to look sharply at her. The others also heard the shocking revelation and understood now more or less the reason for the two warriors' tormenting anger. From a human's point of view, being killed by a facehugger was a horrible way to die. Antonio and Keith who hadn't spent any time with the predators, saw it like this, but Lex and even Annie knew better.

It was all about the honor. Always the honor. To be used and killed by their prey in such a way, not fighting, but enslaved, must've been a death with no honor.

Both women were thinking the same thoughts, and both were interrupted by Keith's voice.

"So are you saying that this… hybrid is the new queen?"

For a short while, everyone heard only rustling on the walkie-talkie, and then Annie's distant voice. "Stop hogging that thing."

Apparently she managed to get it back, since her next sentence could be heard clearly. "As far as I know, yes. It must be like we talked earlier. Either the facehugger that infected the hunter, was already meant to be the new queen, or it simply decided to do a little sex change later on."

Annie's tone of voice went dead serious. "There are soon more eggs here and when they hatch and go infect people, we are going to have something unimaginable in our hands. A monster with the traits of three different species."

"That's evolution for you, right there", Antonio shuddered at the thought, noticing suddenly that everyone was looking at him seriously. "Hey, I already told you, I had nothing to do with this! I was as clueless as everyone else here."

Keith stood up slowly, directing his words to Lex, as if they owed her some explanation. "We were all working with too little information. Every employee here was pretty much hand-picked by Vincent. People with different experiences about life outside Earth. Some who had come to a direct contact and survived, others who had lost friends or loved-ones and wanted revenge."

Keith sighed heavily. "It seemed so simple then, I can't believe how complicated things have become."

Lex knew Keith was a good man and didn't blame him for anything. As for Antonio…

"That's a nice speech Keith, but I want to know how we're going to get rid of these fuckers", Annie sounded annoyed.

Stealth was the first to answer. "We hunt."

"Fine by me", Annie agreed. "Those things don't know how to get out of here, right?"

"Slow down you two", Lex tried to stop things from going too far. She didn't want Annie to be alone with the dangerous hunter anymore. Even if they had made the deal that he would let her friends live, there was no telling what other things he could do. "Annie… just meet us here and we'll make a plan. Something that won't put everyone in such danger."

"Sorry Lex", The woman's voice was icy cold. "At this point, I really don't care."

Nobody said anything to that, so Annie ended the conversation. "You come up with a better idea, you contact me. Otherwise, stay out of my way."

That was it. Lex shook her head and Keith looked disbelieving. "Is it just me, or is she starting to sound like that other hunter?"

"If you ask me", Antonio shared his opinion. "Everyone down here is crazy."

"Nobody asked", came the answer in unison.

Lex turned her eyes at Scar, searching for peace of mind from the stoic warrior. "What if we do the same we did in Antarctica? Blow the whole place sky-high?"

Her hopes for a quick solution evaporated, when Scar shook his head. "That's to be used as a last resort when survival isn't an option anymore. In Antarctica we were lucky to escape with the fast elevator, but here we can't outrun the explosion." _(Author's comment: not unless you're Schwarzenegger ;D)_

"So what other options do we have, then?" Lex threw the question in the air. "We can't just go around, hoping to get them all. If we miss even one, that could mean catastrophe."

"There is… one thing."

All eyes turned to Scar, who seemed somewhat reluctant to continue. "If I call back to the ship, they can blast this place to bits."

The two men's faces lit up from hearing such a simple solution. Lex on the other hand had her suspicions about his reluctance.

"What does that mean? To you and your hunt?"

The predator stood tall and proud, but there was no mistaking the bitterness in his voice. "Calling for help will leave us in shame."

Antonio snorted and threw his hands in the air. "Well let's think it through carefully, shall we? Shame or death, shame or death… that sure is a hard one."

"Antonio. Shut up", Lex's expression made it perfectly clear that she was ready to punch him, if he didn't behave. Lex didn't claim to know everything about the predators, actually she probably knew very little, but she knew enough about Scar to tell when something was important to him. "So, am I right to guess that your culture really is based mainly on this honorary system?"

"Solely", Scar specified, content that the woman had been this observant.

This made it easier for Lex to understand the sacrifice the warrior was prepared to make. He would risk making himself a subject of ridicule or even an outcast.

And not just himself.

"We can't let Stealth know that we're even considering this", Lex crossed her arms, concerned. "Something tells me he's not going to take it very well."

That got a short laugh from the predator. "That would be quite an understatement."

After one frustrated groan, Lex thought about going back to the drawing board, but the others weren't ready to give up on the idea yet.

"What if that is our only option?" It was unexpectedly Keith, who said this.

Antonio was quick to back him up. "Just think how many lives are at stake here. And I'm not talking just about us, I'm talking about the world."

Lex wished she could have talked to Scar alone. Why did she have to be the one to make this decision? Her eyes searched out Scar's as she silently looked for any confirmation on what she should do. What she found, was acceptance. He was devoted to her and would, without a doubt, respect her decision. After all, he had been the one to suggest the idea in the first place.

"I just can't think of anything else", Lex sighed in defeat, giving Scar an apologetic look. "We have to stop this from spreading."

Actually Lex did know what the predators would've normally done in this kind of a situation. They would hunt until there was no prey left or until they would be unable to continue, in which case they would use their last resort to blow up everything.

She didn't want that. It was selfish, but she couldn't help it.

Scar didn't protest, didn't complain. He simply turned to his wrist-device. A couple of beeps later the warrior frowned.

"I can't contact the ship from here. We have to get back outside."

Of course everyone knew they would have to get out, if they were going to get the whole place blown up. Still, all except for Scar felt reluctant to leave the room they felt safe in. Lex was the first of the humans to bite the bullet and go move the furniture they had piled up against the door. The others followed her example quietly, with the exception of Antonio muttering 'great' to himself.

Walking through the long, plain corridors wasn't exactly fun when they were seriously missing firepower. Antonio had the gun he had gotten from Annie, Lex had her spear and Scar… well, Scar _was _their best weapon. Keith had nothing and the big man wasn't too happy about that, though they assured him they would find something along the way.

Antonio was leading the way and they were doing fine so far. No aliens in sight. If Lex hadn't seen the acid spills in the elevator shaft, she would have started to wonder if there even were any xenos. It was a really big place, though, so it wasn't such a surprise.

Suddenly the dark-haired man stopped at the end of a corridor, seemingly pondering something.

"What's the matter?" Keith asked impatiently. "Don't you know the way?"

"I know the way, don't worry", Antonio answered absent-mindedly. "I just remembered something. There's a better route we can take, but for that we'll have to go back down first."

It would've been an understatement to say that Lex and Keith looked disappointed.

"It's just for a short while", Antonio promised.

Since no one wanted to stay where they were, they kept following him. Lex stayed as close to Scar as she could, speaking in a low voice. "Why do you think nothing's attacking us yet? They were all over us in Antarctica."

The tall warrior was moving silently, but not in his hunting-mode as Lex would've called it. "Their pack isn't strong enough. They're most likely staying near the queen to protect her and the next generation."

Another reminder of how intelligent the bugs were. And why they had to destroy them. At least now they would get out easily to do it.

Antonio guided them undisturbed to a room with a hatch on the floor, like in a submarine. "We have to use these, since the elevators are out."

"What a weird design you have here", Lex couldn't help, but note. They had to climb down a long ladder, and every step down felt like a step in the wrong direction.

After that, Antonio picked up his pace soon, so everyone knew they were getting close. He reached the last door and flung it open, bursting in to the room, others not far behind him. Lex searched for another hatch, but was left surprised when not finding one. Instead, she saw Antonio going for a desk with a computer on it and reaching for the drawer.

His expression changed into relief as he picked up a memory stick. "Good. All the research data is still safe."

It took Lex a while to process what had happened. "You led us here to get that?"

"I know how you feel, but…"

"I don't think so!"

"Well not really, but…"

"Everyone's lives are at the stake and the only thing you care about is securing your investment!"

The man tried to get one finished sentence, but Lex wouldn't hear it. She strode in front of him with eyes flashing. "You're doing the same thing those greedy fools were in Antarctica. We were _not_ supposed to even go inside the pyramid. We were definitely _not_ supposed to take anything from there. When there's a dangerous environment, people come first!"

"So until you get us out of here", she continued snatching the memory stick from the man's hand. "I'm holding on to this. One more trick like this and it's gone."

In other circumstances, Antonio might've protested, he did have a gun after all, but one look at the predator eyeing him proved it wouldn't be worth it.

Before he got a chance to try and appease the woman, they were frozen by a bloodcurdling scream.


	28. Mission impossible

Hello! For once i actually have some time to reply to the comments. :) I hope this chapter came fast enough for everyone. ;D

_kittykat6625_:Thank you for the support, I'll do my best. :)

_Iamluck:_ Thank you, i'm glad you like it. ^_^

_Dragowolf: _Heh, would you believe i didn't plan Antonio to be such a douche? He just grew like that on his own. :P And it's nice you liked the part about Scar's shame and all that. I was puzzling with how to continue before i thought of that.

_GrayHuntress:_ Thank you! :) And it's cool that you noticed that. I do try to keep at least some realism in this story and in the predators, even though it is mostly a love story which, in itself, is quite unrealistic already. ;P

_Transformers' BABY_: Don't worry. You'll find out now. :)

_Stupe_: I'm sorry, i promise i won't forget this story, i will finish it. :) And thanks for liking Stealth, i love it when other people love him too. xD

_MrsTayla:_ Thank youuuuu! *grinning madly from ear to ear* XD I'm really glad if this is easy to read and not too boring, since my english vocabulary is quite limited, though i'm trying to expand it while writing this story. :)

And finally: i do not own aliens or predators. But Stealth is mine! O_O

* * *

The scream they heard was almost enough to freeze the blood in their veins. It was a scream of pure, excruciating pain and terror. Lex had heard that same scream before in Antarctica. She felt an overpowering need to cover her ears and deny what was happening, but seeing Keith already running out of the room towards the sound made her snap out of it.

They got to the hallway in time to see that there was nothing they could do. The screams were coming from a man in his thirties. His face was pale and eyes wide with pain and fear. He noticed the group and started approaching them shakily.

"Help… me", he managed to say, before the creature inside him made an attempt to break free. He convulsed and dropped on his knees extending his arm in front of him. "Please! H-help!"

Lex covered her mouth in shock. She knew what had to be done and she had done it once before to a man she could've loved. She couldn't do it again.

"Scar…" She nearly whispered.

The hunter didn't need any words to know what she was asking. He stepped closer to the man, moving behind him. The poor man seemed completely oblivious to the giant looming above him. He was trying to say something, but started coughing up blood.

Lex couldn't take it. She walked to the man, kneeling in front of him. If there was nothing else she could do, she could at least listen to his last words.

"Soon you won't feel a thing, I promise", Lex kept her voice as calm and comforting as she could.

The man stared at her, struggling to speak. "The others… they're still here… we found thEAANGHH!"

His time was up. It was happening.

He didn't have to suffer any longer, though. Scar's twin blades pierced the man's heart before Lex could even move. His scream died with him.

It was a while before Lex got up. At that point it was clear the xenomorph was also dead. The silence felt like a mockery to the horror they just witnessed. Like trying to convince them nothing had really happened.

Scar of course wasn't affected by something that was considered normal by his kind. It was just the cycle of the hunt. This was how their prey was born. Still, he had the courtesy to respect the humans' grief and not hurry them. Lex raised her eyes to meet Scar's and nodded.

"Thank you."

Scar returned the gesture and retracted his wrist blades. The two men had stayed quiet too, but now the initial shock was starting to fade.

"I feel for him", Antonio spoke in a serious tone. "I really do, but we should keep going, there's nothing we can do anymore."

Lex spun around. "What do you mean nothing? Didn't you hear what he said? There are others here. We have to tell them to get out of here."

"And how long will it take for us to find them in this maze? How much time do we have before the xenomorphs go looking for a way out? I know this is a hard decision, but we really don't have much of a choice here."

"You can leave if you want", Lex turned to Keith with a softer tone. "I mean it, don't feel like you're obliged to follow me or anything. It would probably be better if you just got out of here."

"And leave you here?" Keith crossed his arms and raised his brows. "Sorry, not my style. I'm gonna see this to the end."

All eyes turned to Antonio.

"All right, all right! If that's what you want, against all common sense, I'm staying too."

"Actually, no", Lex surprised everyone with this, and even more with what she had to say next. "Now that I think about it, you should go with Scar and guide him back to the surface."

Using the word flabbergasted wouldn't have done justice to the reaction she got. Antonio was utterly unable to process what she had just said, staring at her with a blank face and even Scar quickly moved next to the woman with an alarmed look that seemed to be asking: are you serious?

Lex continued in spite of the punch-drunk silence. "Scar can call the ship and get us some time before they start blowing things up. Meanwhile we can start searching for the survivors. If anyone has a better plan, I'll be happy to hear it."

"Just one question", Antonio had managed to get his mouth to work again. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Is there a problem?" Lex inquired keeping a straight face and ignoring the agitated predator next to her, who clearly had some objections of his own. "Wasn't it you who wanted to get help as soon as possible?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Then we really don't have much of a choice here, do we Antonio?"

"No, ma'am", the dark-haired man surrendered with a long face.

"Great", Lex stated and started shooing the two men away. "Go look for a pen, we're going to need to mark our trail if we're supposed to be wandering down here on our own."

Keith placed his hands on Antonio's shoulders and guided him towards the room they had been in earlier. "Gotcha, we'll give you five minutes."

Lex thanked the sturdy man with a brief smile and watched them disappear into the room. After that she started slowly walking away from the door and the body of the unfortunate man. "Do you think you could get us a couple of hours?"

"That's the easy part", the hunter noted gruffly. "The hard part will be not feeding him to the bugs if we happen to run into some."

Lex gave that thought a malevolent smirk. "Trust me I know how you feel."

Then she became serious again. "I'm sorry to put you through this, the whole thing, I mean. I can only imagine how this will affect you."

Scar lowered his eyes for a second before answering. "I'll lose my place in the ranking. That means I'll be left out of most of the hunts, until I've regained my honor."

It didn't take long for the gravity of what he was saying to get through to Lex. "So that means… when you go back… you don't know when you'll be able to return here."

"Yes."

"Or if you can return at all."

"…Yes."

It was Lex's turn to look away. Scar didn't let her. Gently he made her face him and the problem she had been having since she found out the predator had come back.

"What would you want me to do?"

Lex stared into those green-yellowish eyes that were so dedicated to her and found herself asking something she never expected to ask. "What would happen if you stayed here?"

Scar smiled the weird mandible smile that Lex had at some point started to like so much. "I would have to warn you that I would be an outlaw in the eyes of my clan, which means a death penalty if they ever found me."

That scared Lex, but the dreadlocked warrior's smile didn't vanish. "But then again it would be very unlikely for them to find me after I would turn off the tracking system in my wrist device. So I guess my biggest problem would be to get someone to help me adapt to living on Earth."

Lex wasn't sure if her face was getting warmer from the hunter's touch or if it was doing that on its own. Either way, she was returning the smile.

"I don't believe this, but you're actually beginning to convince me that this would be a good idea."

Scar took a step closer, leaning his forearm against the wall to get closer to the smaller woman. His smile was getting a mischievous tone. "After we're done here, I think I'll be able to convince you fully."

The breath nearly caught in Lex's throat. There was no mistaking the tension between them, nor the fact that she wasn't as opposed towards the idea as she would have hoped to be.

"We'll see", was the only thing she managed to say without revealing the turmoil within her.

Suddenly the sound of a door opening drew their attention elsewhere. Like an actor given his cue to enter the scene, Antonio marched out of the room with a perfect timing. Keith came after him with an apologetic look and a shrug.

I tried.

There was no helping it. Lex could see from the way the dark-haired man was looking at them that he knew exactly what was going on. And he didn't like it one bit.

A part of Lex was annoyed with the jealous man and would've wanted to rub it in in some way, but the reasonable part remembered that the two males were supposed to _not_ kill each other on the way up.

She dived under Scar's thick arm, patting it gently on the fly. "Are you ready?" She turned to ask him quietly.

Immediately she felt like facepalming. The two hotheads were already locked in a staredown and they hadn't even been left alone yet. Lex began getting serious doubts about her plan. She was pretty sure those two wouldn't return from their mission in one piece.

"Alright, listen you two!" She took her most authoritative tone of voice. "Antonio, if you ever want to see this again…" She showed him the memory stick from her pocket. "…you'll stop this nonsense and start behaving. As for you…" She directed her words to Scar. "… you know very well why you should behave."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Antonio started, but one look at Lex putting the priceless stick down on the floor and raising her foot above it, made him stop his complaint. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Fine, I get the picture, now please put it back before I have a heart attack!"

Lex turned to make sure Scar was also on the same page. "Well…"

That was one thing she had never thought she would one day be doing. Correcting the behavior of a predator twice her size as if he was an unruly child. Scar even rolled his eyes at her before muttering something with a mix of English and his own language.

That had to do.

"If it's all settled, then you should get going. The faster you get there, the faster this is all going to be over."

By now Antonio knew better than to complain, but he still couldn't resist a final jab. "I'm just wondering how is it your _friend _here let's you stay in such a dangerous place without him protecting you."

Lex raised her eyebrow at the question and made a slight move with her hand that caused the spear she had been carrying to extend to its full length. She was showing off with it again, she knew that, but she didn't care.

Besides it made a cool swishing sound.

"Who gave you the idea that I need to be protected?"

Keith laughed approvingly. "Good comeback. Maybe a bit cliché, though."

"Meh", Lex shrugged and went to Scar for backup. "What do you think?"

"What I think…" The large predator walked past Lex, brushing her cheek with one finger. "…is right here."

Lex brought her own hand subconsciously over the scar on her face, watching as the hunter took off with Antonio following and sighing dramatically. Keith too watched after them and walked next to the woman.

"He's good too."

"You have no idea."

* * *

After the talk they had had with the others, Annie had become more determined on stopping the alien threat. She didn't expect to be in contact anytime soon with anyone, so she was genuinely surprised when someone called her on the walkie-talkie.

"Annie? Please respond, it's important."

"What now, Lex? Don't tell me you came up with a plan this quickly."

She heard a brief laughter on the other end, then Lex continued. "Yea, we did actually. Umm, are you still with…"

"Mr. Sunshine? Yes, he's right here. You got something to say to him?"

"Nothing he would like. Listen…" Annie sensed hesitation in the pause. "I can't tell you everything right now, but if we manage to pull off what we're trying to do, then this place is going to blow up in about two hours. I'll let you know when I know for sure if it's going to happen."

"Sure. Great." Annie was skeptical. With what exactly were they going to do it? "Talk to you again then."

"Be careful, Annie."

"Back at you, Lex."

Annie put the walkie-talkie away and concentrated again on what she had been doing before the interruption. She was reading a map she had found. Not that she needed it, she knew her way around the facility. She was simply trying to see the bigger picture, trying to see where the aliens and especially the large queen could be and where they could move.

Now it seemed that the little call had disturbed her peace more than she had thought. One glance to the shadow that appeared on the table she was working on, revealed that the predator who had earlier been preoccupied with his own things, was now standing on the other side of the table, staring at her intensely.

"What do you… think… she's doing?"

Annie was always suspicious when Stealth was talking to her. "I don't know. My guess is, they've found something to blow up."

"Shouldn't you… know what?"

"Now how the hell would I know everything that's down here?" Annie used anger as a cover to hide the fact that she really knew there shouldn't have been anything they could use to create an explosion big enough. She lowered her eyes back to the map. "Right now this is more interesting. I think I've got a few possible places, but things would go a lot faster, if we could get to here", she put her finger on the map. "Here are the surveillance cameras. The same place where Vincent will probably be, since it's the safest room there is. There would just be the problem of getting in, which might be impossible."

She kept talking aloud, mostly to distract herself from the continuous stare of the sly hunter. She didn't know if he had believed her nor did she know what Lex was up to, but she knew she had a lot of things to do and, apparently, little time to do them.


	29. Finding weaknesses

Hello again! Here's the next chapter, hope you'll enjoy! :)

_Transformers' BABY: _Thank you! :D

_James P. Darcy:_ Luckily i've found my inspiration again and i'm hoping not to lose it any time soon. So the updates should keep on coming until the end of this story. ^^ Yay, i always get so crazy happy when i hear good things about Stealth. xD

_GrayHuntress: _I'm always so embarrassed when i'm writing something like that. ^^;

_Iamluck: _Thanks! I'll try not to keep you waiting any more than necessary. :)

_Dragowolf:_ Lex is pretty much the glue that's keeping everyone together. :) I actually sometimes feel bad for not giving Lex and Scar any alone time. I even had a thought crossing my mind that i should make some kind of a one-shot where i would give them just that, but i don't know... ;P

_RKF22: _Thanks, i will! :)

_MrsTayla:_ Thank you! :D Scary that you can see into the future, when i haven't even decided all the things that are going to happen. O_O

_kittykat6625:_ Yay, loving the love. Thanks! xD

_Luv4Uncas:_ Thank you! It' great that you're liking them both. :D This chapter is a little more about Stealth and Annie for a change. :)

_SouzouWriter:_ Thaaaaanks! XD I can't deal with such positive comments, i really can't stop smiling for a while after i read them. x)

_xVentressx:_ Thanks! And i'm glad i can offer something different for a change then. :)

_girl13:_ Thank you, i will, i will. :)

* * *

Stealth was suspicious.

He didn't know what it was, but he had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He'd gotten this feeling after hearing the conversation between the two women. There was something happening and he didn't know what, which was bad. As far back as he could remember, he had always been suspicious by nature, trusting only himself, and that had worked for him just fine.

Well, that wasn't all true. He did remember one time he had chosen to trust someone. That choice had cost him. He had decided not to let it happen again. Simply put, he no more cared about others anymore than he cared about reminiscing his past.

Agitated, the predator concentrated again on the human female, who had been quietly muttering to herself for sometime now while looking at a map. He had listened at first, but after he'd gotten the basic idea of what she was looking for, he'd lost interest and his thoughts had started drifting to other things.

Not that the female herself wasn't interesting. On the contrary, if she hadn't been, he wouldn't have taken her with him to begin with. On the outside she had shown courage, or maybe foolhardiness, determination and the ability to handle herself in the face of danger. Stealth found respect for all those qualities.

He also wanted to see what it would take to break that outer barrier of hers.

Thinking about that made him slightly regret the deal with Lex. It limited his options so much, not to be able to cause any significant harm. On the other hand, knowing that he could at any time hold Lex to her end of the deal, was satisfactory too.

Except that now she was planning something. Listening to her, it had been easy to deduce that she didn't, for whatever reason, want him to know what she was doing. That disturbed Stealth enough to make his thoughts go around in circles.

And that made him impatient.

The large, but agile predator walked around the table, stalking. Annie tried to look like she was focusing on the map, but failed when Stealth noticed her casting a quick glance at him. Much to her annoyance, he circled behind her, stopping close enough to look at the map over her shoulder.

Annie didn't last long with her effort to keep ignoring the unpredictable hunter. "Do you mind?" She said icily, keeping her eyes on the map. "I'm trying to help us find the xenos and you breathing down my neck isn't helping."

"Too bad", Stealth's voice was foreboding. "I'm starting… to get bored."

"What are you, a spoiled child?"

If Annie had seen the dangerous gleam igniting in the predator's eyes, she might've reconsidered saying anything at all. "Just stop bothering me and go play someplace else for a while."

The only answer she got, was a low growl telling her that she was now venturing on thin ice. She turned around slowly in a controlled manner, bracing herself for whatever was coming.

Their eyes met, Stealth narrowing his when the female refused to show fear. "You seem to… not know your place."

He brought his face closer to hers. "You humans are… merely slaves to us."

Still the female didn't buckle. She didn't avert her eyes or take a step back. She kept challenging him with the same, defiant look.

"I know my place and I don't need anyone to tell me what it is."

"Oh, but I will", Stealth wasn't going to let this go until he'd gotten what he wanted. He moved straight to a more direct approach, pushing the much smaller female effortlessly back, so that she hit the desk behind her. Then he forced her on her back on top of it and leaned over her, pinning her hands above her head. This earned him a surprised look. But only for a moment, until it was replaced by the defiant, angry stare again.

She didn't struggle this time, just kept holding in her anger and waiting. Stealth laughed at the female's stubbornness. "At least you… learn fast… You just might become… a very entertaining… little slave."

That wasn't enough yet. Annie still denied him the satisfaction of seeing her scared or otherwise thrown off balance. Stealth grinned. He had many ways to make that happen.

"Especially… in the… bedchamber."

Now the predator could see that the female was close to losing her temper. Through some impressive self-control she gritted her teeth, before answering. "I'm not surprised you would need slaves, since no one in their right mind would do anything with you willingly."

Stealth, who had expected the female to break after what he said, burst out laughing. This surprised Annie, who had also been expecting a completely different reaction. She eyed the hunter, suspecting he had gone crazy. Or crazier.

She didn't have a clue how much Stealth was enjoying their little exchange of words. The female was feisty. Stealth liked that, even though the fact that she didn't fear him, bothered him somewhat.

His laughter quieted down to chuckles. Annie had by now returned back to her icy attitude. "What's so funny?"

Stealth gave her a smug grin. "A good try… at making me angry… Unfortunately…" He let go of the female's hands, adjusting his position so that he could still hover over her. "…your assumption… is wrong."

Annie didn't ask how so, but Stealth was more than happy to let her know. "I've already been chosen… by many females… to be their mating partner."

The small female moved her hands cautiously back to her sides, rising on her elbows. Stealth didn't stop her, but neither did he move to let her leave. Not before his final note, which he spoke huskily into her ear.

"I know you too would… find it very enjoyable."

There was the shocked face he had been looking for.

"NEVER!" Annie screamed, horrified by the idea. She struggled to get up, and this time Stealth moved aside. "You're crazy! You're _absolutely_ crazy if you even think that… that I would… BASTARD!"

Annie grabbed the map from the desk and stormed away, not looking back. When Stealth had been speaking, it hadn't been his empty words that had upset her enough to enrage her. That had been caused by a realization that had suddenly hit her. It was her own behavior.

She was more angry at herself than the predator at the moment, because she had just caught herself… looking at that asshole and his… various body parts. Now the image of the muscular hunter was stuck in her mind. Ugh, she HATED him!

Annie strode forward, not knowing or caring if the predator was still following her. The only thing she knew right then, was that the next creature crossing her path would be a dead creature. She really hoped they would run into some xenos, so that she could let out the excess pressure that had built up inside her.

Unknown to Annie, Stealth was indeed following her. He too was hoping for them to find the bugs. He was already in a good mood and finishing off a queen would just perfect his day.

* * *

Antonio's day was far from perfect and it didn't seem to be getting better any time soon. Scar wasn't too happy either. The two males hadn't said a word to each other ever since they had left. Antonio had a lot of things he would've wanted to say, but even he had enough sense not to give in to the temptation.

There was no knowing what the hunter could do without Lex there to control him. If only Lex had been on their side, they could've used her relationship with him to their own purposes. But that was a lost cause. Instead, Antonio knew that he had to get rid of the predator somehow, before he would ruin Lex's life.

He just had the small problem of having to figure out a way to do that first.

Antonio was leading them out a different way than the one they had come down. It was a faster route and he didn't want to delay with this mission any longer than was necessary. This way also had a ladder in a closed room which was their only chance, since Vincent had made sure the elevators weren't working.

Antonio went first, soon reaching the hatch above his head. He extended his hand to turn the valve, cursing when the hatch didn't open. He tried again harder, but it didn't budge. He glanced at the hunter standing at the bottom of the ladder, probably laughing inwardly at his failing attempts.

"Just great", he murmured under his breath, pushing at the hatch. "Could this get any better? Work dammit!"

Giving it his all, Antonio pushed again and this time the hatch basically flew open. "What? Well, better late than… never…"

The pause in Antonio's sentence was caused by a black, eyeless head… well, not watching, but waiting for him beyond the hatch. For a second there, Antonio stared stupefied at the xenomorph, another second, and he realized his life was in danger. The third second was when he didn't know anymore what was happening.

Scar stood at the bottom of the ladder, laughing inwardly at the little man, when the hatch opened, revealing the sudden danger. It took only a blink of an eye for his hunting instincts to kick in. He jumped onto the ladder, yanking his spear out of its holder on his back and throwing it up towards the alien.

The spear connected with its target, sending it flying out of sight. Antonio looked down, hanging on to the ladder, his knuckles as white as his face.

"Did you just miss me by two inches?"

"Be glad that I did miss."

Antonio would have retorted, if he hadn't right then been scared half to death by the screeching alien reappearing. Scar had hit it in the mouth and the creature was dripping a mix of thick drool and acid blood. Antonio would have probably let go and jumped down, despite how high he was, if he had gotten the chance. The alien didn't give him that, though.

Antonio was dragged up with little chance to fight back and Scar knew he had to move quickly. Lex would never believe he had nothing to do with it, if the man got killed.

The predator didn't have the time or the space to properly dodge the falling drops of acid on the way up, but since he felt no burning he could conclude that he'd gotten lucky that time. Now he needed more luck to get to the man while he would still be alive.

Scar reached the upper floor at the same time as he heard a gun go off. He soon found out what was happening and that there was no need for haste anymore.

The same gun fired three times more with deadly accuracy. After the deafening sounds had quieted down Antonio raised his head from the floor, where he had ducked.

"Seriously, why is everyone, who's trying to save me, doing it in a way that almost kills me?"

Annie put her magnum away. "Maybe you should think about that." She noticed Scar, who had just got up, and raised a quizzical brow. "Are you two by yourselves?"

"Unfortunately yes", Antonio grumbled while getting up and moving away from the presumably dead xenomorph.

"Why?" Annie's face was skeptical.

Antonio was ready to explain everything to her, when Stealth walked to the scene after the woman. He swallowed the sentence he had been about to speak, his brains working overdrive to come up with something else. He had no desire to be the one to break the news about their plan to a predator, who had no problem killing anyone who got in his way.

""Well…" he started, still thinking feverishly. "We're going back out, I mean I am… I'm getting out of here. That's right, I'm not staying any longer in this crazy place." He pointed at the dead alien. "This is not something I want to deal with, kudos to you hunting enthusiasts, but this is not for me."

Annie crossed her arms, frowning, but since she had also sensed the sneaky hunter behind her, she didn't say what she was thinking. Even a blind person could have told that Antonio was lying and that it was because of Stealth's presence. That was exactly what Lex had done too.

"Don't tell me he's here to escort you to safety?" Annie helped the man, nodding towards Scar, who had retrieved his spear and was placing it back on its holder.

"Uhh… yeah, you know Lex. Always looking out for everyone. Arranged me a temporary bodyguard."

"I see", Annie stated briefly, noticing Scar shaking his head slightly. "Well, if you can now manage to stay alive a little while longer, I'll be going."

"Where are you two going then?"

Antonio's innocent question got the woman's anger to flare up again. "_We_ are not going anywhere. _I'm_ going to go check the surveillance cameras and _he_ can go rot in hell as far as I care!"

Stealth chuckling in the background didn't help things. Antonio had no idea what was keeping Annie, who was clearly seething with hatred, from picking up her guns and emptying them into the hunter. He suspected she wasn't sure either.

"Well, um, good luck with that then", Antonio wished. "You should also talk to Lex at some point. You know, to exchange news and such."

"Yeah, sure", Annie knew she would have to find out what was really going on with the others, but as long as Stealth was following her so closely, she couldn't do that. The best thing to do for now, was to leave and try to figure things out later. She started walking away, noting something out of the ordinary at the same time.

"You should probably do something about that acid", she pointed out nonchalantly, before vanishing into another corridor.

Antonio looked puzzled by the odd remark and turned to see if Scar knew what the woman had meant. Doing so he too saw now the thin, winding trail of smoke, rising from the unsuspecting predator.

Antonio's eyes widened. "Oh, shit…"

* * *

Lex and Keith had no such troubles as the others. They got along just fine, and were lucky enough not to run into anything. The only unfortunate thing with that was that they hadn't found any survivors yet either. What they had found, was a new pistol for Keith, which he had gladly taken.

Moving with caution and their senses heightened, they heard the approaching footsteps before they saw who was coming. Both were surprised to see Antonio and Scar returning already. More precisely, they were surprised that actually both of them had made it back.

"You're still in one piece, I see", Lex nearly sighed in relief.

"Pretty much", Antonio replied grimly.

His serious face caught Lex's attention. "How did it go?"

The dark-haired man shook his head and stepped aside. "See for yourself."

At first Lex didn't know what he was referring to. Scar stood there, his head hanging low. Then he raised his arm and she stared in disbelief at the wrist device which had been burned, no doubt, by acid.

"Please tell me you got the message out before that happened", Lex couldn't stop staring at the only decent hope they had had, which was now completely useless.

"Take a guess", Antonio snapped.

Lex let out a heavy sigh. "So what now?"

It was Scar again, who gave them their only real option they had left.

"The only working communicator we now have is Stealth's."


	30. Plans, plans, plans

Halloota! Here you go, another chapter. :)

_xXxMudvayneGirlxXx:_ Don't hold your breath, they both have a lot of issues. x)

_xVentressx:_ Thanks! I love it that you love it. :D

_blackangel150:_ No he certainly won't, Stealth really isn't a team player. xP

_NyanToTheCat:_ Thank you, thank you and thank you! xD When i started writing this, i quickly came up with the beginning and the ending, but everything in between has been kind of hazy to me. I mostly come up with things as i write. So it's a relief to hear that the plot at least seems somewhat thought out. :P And i really love it when someone likes my characters, they're my little imaginary children. X)

_Iamluck:_ I take it that's a compliment. XD

_Transformers'_ _BABY_: THANK YOU! X)

_Dragowolf:_ Thanks! :) Annie and Stealth are fun to write about too. Might just do a separate one-shot about their adventures some day if i ever need a break from this story. :P Heh, Scar and Lex know each other too well, Scar wouldn't have gotten away with it, even if he had made it look like an accident. xD

_GrayHuntress:_ Indeed. XD

_Luv4Uncas:_ Thanks! I'll try to keep updating as often as i can. :) Yeees... sometimes twisted is good. xD

_James P. Darcy:_ Thank you! :) Indeed it is stressing her, but it's just too fun to write. Sorry Annie... ;P

_MrsTayla:_ Thanks! :) Yep, Annie's a tough one, she won't give in that easily. ^^

_SouzouWriter:_ Well thank _you_ for giving me such great comments to read. :D I know i probably say this in every chapter to someone, but i really can't describe how happy it makes me to hear any part of my story being complimented. And yes, Antonio's moment... it had to be done. xD

_RKF22:_ Sure will. :)

_Jorda96:_ Thank you! :D Hooray for pervy predators! XD

_SweetMarshmallow:_ Hello to you too! And thank you very much! :D I think that's the nicest way anyone has ever described my style of writing. ^^ It's really great since i'm always a bit insecure writing in a foreign language. Pretty much every word you wrote made me grin like maniac. X) I think my boyfriend will soon think i've gone crazy if i go around the apartment grinning like that every time i get nice comments. :P

I don't own aliens or predators, just my own characters.

* * *

Annie stood in front of a heavily enforced metal door, which was very effectively stopping them from entering the surveillance room. She had calmed down from earlier, focusing instead on the problem at hand. Reminding herself, that the man responsible for most of the horrible events was most likely hiding behind that one obstruction, gave her motivation.

But motivation alone wasn't enough. The room had been designed as a safe room in case of a breakout. Brute force would never get anyone or anything in. Annie had intended to come up with some sort of a plan before coming there, but a certain distraction had changed that.

"Got… a brilliant plan… already?" The certain distraction asked, tilting his head.

"Why don't you try breaking it with your head until one of us come's up with something better", was Annie's absent-minded retort.

Right then she was thinking about the dead xenomorph. She wasn't sure if it's blood could eat through the thick door, which was constructed from combinations of various metals, and meant to withstand corrosive substances. Maybe it could, but they would need to get lots of it, and to find more, they would need to get into the room to locate the other xenomorphs…

So that sucked.

Annie sighed, thinking of other ways to get in. Of course there weren't any air vents big enough to get through. There was a window where one could see the whole loading area from above, but that was too high and made from layers and layers of unbreakable glass.

"I suppose you don't have anything that will get us though this?" Annie reluctantly asked the predator.

"No", was the simple, almost cheerful answer.

"That's great, maybe I'm just thinking this too much", the woman took a mocking tone, knocked on the door with her fist and went for the handle. "I'm sure we'll be invited in if we just ask n…"

The sound of the door opening surprised them both. Annie tensed and looked at the hunter, who had also become alert. Stealth moved swiftly to the other side of the door and Annie got ready to flung it open. Her senses kept telling her they could be going straight into a trap.

They exchanged one last glances and Annie nodded as a sign that she was ready. She counted down from three with her fingers and pulled.

As soon as she got the heavy door open, she went for her magnum, and aimed it at the…

Empty room.

"What?" Annie exclaimed, searching for a man, who clearly wasn't there. Instead, they saw the unbreakable glass broken on the floor in front of the window and some of the monitors smashed beyond repair.

Stealth walked in, examining the destruction. Annie put her gun away and followed. Her attention went straight to the window. "It was the queen, wasn't it? I don't think anything smaller could have gotten through that."

Stealth didn't answer to the obvious fact and Annie didn't expect him to. While she peered through the empty window frames, Stealth noticed something interesting. He went to take a closer look at one of the monitors.

He saw two humans, one an older human male, and the other, someone he remembered well. It was the hardly full-grown male, who had tried to fight him earlier. The one everyone thought was dead.

Stealth glanced at Annie, who was completely clueless of his found. She had no idea that the young human whose supposed death had set her on her hunt for revenge, was actually still somehow alive. Had she known that, she would have probably given up the hunt to get him to safety.

Stealth reached silently to the back of the monitor and yanked the cords there loose.

The screen went black.

* * *

He was walking around aimlessly, wrapped in his compulsive thoughts. He held his bleeding arm, air hissing through his gritted teeth. It was impossible, he hadn't believed it, but it was true. He had seen it. It had driven him out of his refuge. The queen, a new queen. It had been horrible and yet magnificent. A monster, but a monster he needed. A fire to fight fire. A blessing.

The fury still burned inside him every day and every second, but it wasn't aimed at the bug creatures. That was all reserved for the hunters. The ones who were really responsible for everything. He didn't actually feel any kind of hatred towards the bugs, they were doing the only thing they could.

Surviving.

As for the hunters, they had played their games with the lives of other species for centuries. Not giving anyone a choice. Even the bugs would have remained somewhere on their own planet, unable to travel to other places, but the hunters had changed that and started spreading them to other planets, infecting and destroying probably countless civilizations for their own amusement. For their meaningless hunt.

He was burning, burning with his hatred for them, nothing could stop him. He would destroy the hunters, even if he would have to take ultimate risks. He would make them pay for what they did to his father and everyone else they'd ever hunted. He was unstoppable, he was on a righteous path and he would rid the world of this plague.

And one day, all would be revealed and the world would thank him for his sacrifices.

The more Vincent thought about it, the more powerful he felt. He didn't even feel the sting of the cut in his arm anymore.

* * *

The two men couldn't have gotten any more lost if they had tried. Mark had been frowning impatiently ever since the sheriff had saved his life at the elevator. He didn't have a clue what was going on with the others, but he was sure they thought he was dead. He hated the thought of having upset Annie, who he knew, had lost it before when he had been threatened or sometimes even from being picked on.

Everyone always said that she had basically adopted him, and it was partially true. But to him, it was more like they had adopted each other. Meeting Annie for the first time, he had quickly learned of her dead son and in return he had told her of his dead mother. From there, things had fallen in place quite naturally. Both of them giving comfort to the other.

He loved her, she had truly been like a mother to him from the beginning. A raging, temperamental mother bear at times, but a protective and caring mother nonetheless.

Now he worried about her and what she might be doing. He wanted to find her as soon as possible, but with him and the sheriff having no knowledge whatsoever about the facility, it seemed a hopeless task.

Mark sighed for the twentieth time since they had started walking. The sheriff endured this with the wisdom and patience age had granted him. He did what he had already done nineteen times, and tried to lead the youngster's thoughts somewhere else.

"Don't worry so much, my boy. I'm sure your friends are alright. I got a good feeling about that miss Woods. She seemed like a capable woman. I've heard she went through quite an ordeal when she first met these visitors."

Mark was getting tired of the older man's attempts to distract him, but he didn't have the heart to tell him to stop talking. He knew it was his own fault for acting so anxiously.

"Yeah, I think she fought the queen with that hunter friend of hers", he recalled half-heartedly.

"Well, that's something", the sheriff adjusted the shotgun he was resting against his shoulder. "From what Vincent and Antonio have shown me from the archives, killing a thing like that takes a whole lot of something. Whether it's skill or wits or just plain luck, it proves that miss Woods has that something. And besides, Annie and Antonio were with you, right? I'm sure they got out of here and got help for Keith."

Mark sighed for the twenty-first time. "I hope you're right. But Lex wasn't with us, she left to return to those two hunters. I don't know what happened after that. So I really hope you're right about her and the others."

The sheriff furrowed. "That is something I don't understand. What is she doing with them? They're supposed to be our enemies."

"Apparently some things are a bit more complicated than we first thought. One of them is called Stealth and he's definitely the kind of a hunter we were warned about when we started here. Would've killed me too, if Lex hadn't been there to help. But that other one, Scar, I don't know. Lex wanted to save him, so I guess she sees him as a friend. The last I saw, he was pretty messed up from the drugs."

The sheriff walked in silence for a while, pondering what he had heard. "Well, us humans all differ from each other, why not them too? But still, there is no denying that their culture affects them strongly. Centuries of hunting, collecting trophies from strange worlds. I imagine that leaves little chance for different life philosophies. I'm not sure miss Woods knows what she's getting into."

Mark shook his head with a slight smirk. "She was very determined, I don't think that kind of talk will change her mind."

"Perhaps not", the sheriff admitted. "And that's not really our number one concern here. At first we have to get out of here or at least find someone who knows what's going on. Then we have to deal with the bugs."

While walking and talking, both men kept trying every door they passed by, peering into the rooms, but not seeing anyone or anything. It was monotonous, but Mark kept himself alert by bringing back the image of the xenomorph attacking him. The same image would probably wake him every night in the future after everything would be over and their lives back to normal.

"It's a good thing there aren't that many xenomorphs here", he spoke confidently. "I mean, how many did they have, four, five of them?"

"If that's all, then we're in luck", the sheriff leaned to look behind a corner. "It's one down already and there's no queen to lay more eggs."

"That's where you're wrong."

The unexpected voice made Mark jump and the sheriff ready his shotgun. They stared further to the hallway at the next door that was slightly ajar.

"Stay behind me", the sheriff told the young man strictly, before approaching the door slowly. "You in the room, identify yourself!"

"Calm down, sheriff. We're all humans here, there's no need to be so cautious."

"Isn't that…" Mark thought he recognized the voice. He ignored the sheriff's instruction and walked past him to the door. The room was unlit and at first Mark couldn't see anything.

"I'm here", a voice came from somewhere at his side. "Just turn the lights on."

Mark found the switch close to the door and did as told. In the bright light he saw the man he had indeed suspected to be the owner of the voice. A wave of relief washed over him.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you. We've been lost down here for what feels like ages and it's horrible not knowing what's happening with everyone else. You know how to get out of here, right? Oh, but you're injured. Did you run into the xenomorphs too? What about the others, have you seen them or…"

"Will you shut up!" The man snapped, but pulled himself together when the sheriff walked in.

"Mr. Keyes, didn't expect to run into you here."

Vincent forced a smile on his face. "Well, what did you expect then? That I would run and save my own hide and forget about everything else?"

The sheriff shrugged. "That's usually the case with high and powerful people. If my assumption is wrong, I'll gladly admit my mistake, but experience has taught me to assume certain things."

"Then I'm equally glad to prove you wrong", Vincent struggled to keep the smile on his face as he turned to Mark. "I'm sorry about my little outburst just now. It's just the stress getting to me."

Mark was never the one to hold a grudge, so he flashed a sincere smile at the man and offered his hand to help him up. "It's okay, I know what you mean. Our group was attacked by a xenomorph and we got separated. It's been driving me crazy not knowing how everyone's doing."

Vincent took the offered hand and allowed the youngster to help him up. He tried to appear casual as he asked: "So, how much do you know?"

"Basically nothing", Mark was quick to answer. A little too quick for the sheriff's taste. He had been in law enforcement most of his life and in that line of work one developed a keen eye for suspicious people. He didn't say anything since it was yet just a hunch, but he decided to keep his guard up.

If Vincent had been having trouble upholding a fake smile a second ago, now his problem was hiding the victorious sneer that was trying to surface from hearing the gullible youngster's response. They had no idea what he had done. It was perfect.

"I suspect it must've been the hunters, who let the xenomorphs loose. They came here to hunt, right? What a nice surprise it must've been for them to learn that there are bugs here."

"Maybe", the elderly sheriff said, studying the man with a steady stare.

Vincent ignored him. The young man buzzed around him, talking something about his arm and the hastily made wrap that was covering the cut. He nodded and said something vague back to him. He had to concentrate again on listening to the others, he knew that. But standing there while the fool went to get medical supplies from the old man, he could only think about a plan forming in the depths of his mind.

* * *

Lex was seriously wishing someone would come up with a better plan than what was currently the only one she could think of. They had retreated to another room to rethink their options and so far, no one had presented anything sensible.

"So let me get this straight", Keith started summarizing their conversation. "Stealth has the only working communicator now. We need that, but there is no way in hell, he would let us use it. In fact, if we even tell him what we need it for, he will kill us for sure. Have I gotten this right so far?"

"Yep", Antonio was slouching in an office chair, resting his chin lazily against the palm of his hand. "And an even shorter version goes: we're fucked."

Keith continued, pointing to Scar: "And you can't just fight him for it, because…"

"There is no guarantee, I would win", Scar admitted reluctantly. "And there's always the chance that the device could suffer damage during a fight."

"I guess you're right", Keith rubbed his head in frustration. "We can't risk losing our last chance for a clean bug extermination. We need something quick that will surprise him."

"You don't surprise Stealth", Lex stated gloomily from where she was sitting on the floor. "He won't let his guard down for a second, not without a damn good distraction."

"Well, I think it's fairly simple", Antonio sat upright. "Why don't we just get those tranquilizer guns, those worked just fine before, wouldn't you agree, hunter?"

That would have been the start of yet another quarrel, if Lex hadn't spoken quickly. "How are you going to shoot him with it? We can't hide from him here and if he sees us shooting, he'll just dodge the darts."

Antonio slouched again. "I don't hear you making any suggestions."

Lex had been wavering whether she should speak what was on her mind or not, and now it seemed no other ideas were coming. She let out a heavy sigh, preparing herself for the struggle she was about to get into.

"Scar, I need to talk to you."

Antonio and Keith exchanged looks. Both knew it never bode well when someone said they needed to talk. Scar followed Lex out of the room, leaving the two men wondering what the woman would have to say.

Lex led them further until she was sure Antonio and Keith couldn't hear them. She could see from Scar's face that the predator didn't have a clue what she wanted to talk about. She decided to get straight to the point and face the consequences.

"Do you remember when Stealth mentioned we had a deal…"


	31. The deal

Hope you like this, it was a difficult chapter to write and it became pretty long. xP

_xXxMudvayneGirlxXx_: Oh, i think we all dream. xD

_GrayHuntress_: Thank you! Oh, THE DEAL is bad indeed. :D

_SweetMarshmallow_: Heh, it's always fun to hear what someone thinks of my characters. :D

_blackangel150_: Not sure what you mean by that, but thanks for commenting. :)

_SouzouWriter_: Thank you, i try my best so that you don't have to wait anymore as long as it at certain point took. :)

_Dragowolf_: Scar certainly won't be happy. But don't worry, i have a desk you can hide behind and watch the action. That's where i go every time Stealth is bored and looking for someone to play with. XP (Just between you and me, he's really mean when he's bored...-_-,)

_Paarthurnax_: Thank you! XD And there's the insane grin again that won't leave my face for the rest of the day. Your comment made me too happy. :D

_xVentressx_: Wait no more! :D

_MistaSilentKiller_: Thanks! :) I might do that, but first i would have to filter out everything i hated in those movies starting with almost every human there was in them, especially AVPR. :P The predators are great, though, there's just not enough about them. ^^

_AMYLEE_ _PRIME_: Heh, i love cliffhangers. Thank you very much for liking the story and for the greetings as well. :) It's fun hearing where you guys are from. So greetings back to you from Finland! :D

_bee51_: Thank you and sorry to keep you waiting! :D

_Laika923_: Yes, the queen is indeed a predalien, thank you for liking her. I'm sure she will appreciate it. ;D And as always when someone says something, i'm happy that you like Stealth too. ^^ The fate you described for Vincent would be quite suitable. We were actually discussing with my sister that he should have a hairy chest and it should catch on fire, his eye liquids should pour out of his eye sockets and he should be thrown off a cliff as a flaming torch. But yours is very good too. XD And i agree with you on the xenos. Good xenos must drool. :D

_mayalewis16_: Thank you and here's the update! :D

_Jorda96_: Oh, Stealth won't most certainly be a happy predator if he finds out. x)

_Karau_: Thank you! :D Yes, i guess Stealth is evil in a weird good way. He's so complexed sometimes, i can't keep up with him. xP

_Luv4Uncas_: He's going to be thrilled of course! :D

_Nicola_: Thank you very much! :D I must say, i was quite excited to get more greetings from around the world, so thank you for that too. And greetings back to you from Finland! :D

_Themulesrule1902_: Thank you, i will definitely keep writing. :D

I don't own AVP.

* * *

"…And so you see, I really am the only one who can get close enough to do it."

Lex had tried to explain the situation and her deal with Stealth as carefully and logically as she could. Now she waited for Scar's reaction.

"Scar?" Her worry grew every second the large predator remained quiet. He wasn't even looking at her. Had he been shouting and protesting, she would have understood that, but the eerie silence and the unreadable face… it made Lex dread what was coming.

"Scar, please understand. It'll be quick, I'll just have to fool him for a little while. Nothing will happen."

"No", came the harsh answer. "Something will happen."

Without casting one look at the woman, Scar turned on his heel and started walking away. "I'm going to kill him."

Lex was so taken aback by the sudden announcement, it took her a second before she could go after the warrior. "N-no, wait! What do you think you're doing? We talked about this already and you fighting him is not an option. Stop and listen to me!"

She had to nearly run to keep up with the infuriated hunter. With one last sprint she put herself in the way of Scar's path, placing her hands on his wide chest. "I'm serious, I won't let you do this when there's a better way to…"

"_A BETTER WAY!_" Scar was looking at her now, and his eyes were angrier than she had ever seen. He grabbed Lex's shoulders, almost shaking her. "You promised him anything! Do you have any idea what he will do to you?"

"He will do nothing", Lex spoke slowly and calmingly. "That's the plan. He'll be out cold before he has a chance."

Scar grunted dissatisfied and pushed the woman firmly aside, continuing his way. Lex squeezed her lips tightly together and ran after the hot-headed hunter. This time she didn't try to stop him by getting in his way. She resorted to more drastic measures.

"Will. You. _STOP!_"

With the last emphasized word leaving her mouth, Lex targeted a specific place she knew was sensitive, and grabbed one of the predator's long dreadlocks. Scar stopped, as if he had hit a wall and Lex made her demand one more time.

"Stop and calm down! You're being an idiot."

Scar growled his protest, but Lex kept her resolve. "I don't need you to protect me from him, I can take care of myself and carry out my part of the plan."

That was apparently too much for the temperamental hunter to hear. Spinning around he freed himself from Lex's grasp and stepped right in front of her. Faltering, Lex also took a step back, unsure of the intentions of the clearly unbalanced warrior.

"You are the one who needs to stop!" Scar could hardly control himself. "You think you can fool him? You think either of us would still be alive if we hadn't been trained since younglings to be cautious and prepared for surprise attacks? You've already shown him that you're no helpless child bearer, he will not lower his guard near you."

Lex stood up against the much larger predator's fury with her own icy anger that was starting to build up too. "I think I've gotten a pretty good idea of how twisted and skillful he is, you don't need to tell me that, nor do you need to tell me what I can and can't do. I am perfectly capable of deciding that myself."

"Obviously not!"

Lex realized she needed something else to win the argument, and she did have one ace in mind she could play. "What about my honor then?"

Her question must've had some kind of an influence, since the warrior suddenly fell quiet.

"I'm the one who's been harassed most by that son of a bitch. He has offended my honor time after time and I want payback. That is my right, isn't it? You can't let what you feel for me, cloud your judgment."

Scar was clearly trapped. His breathing was still quicker, but the uncontrollable fury was receding from his eyes. The traditions of his kind were too deeply imprinted in him for him to deny Lex's reasoning. He, himself, had given her the warrior's mark, and even if its meaning wasn't entirely known to her, it was to him. He couldn't just ignore it.

"I… can't deny you that. If you feel you need retribution to restore your honor…" Scar didn't finish the sentence, but instead continued further on the subject. "Normally disputes between hunters are resolved with one challenging the other to a hand-to-hand combat. In this case, you two would be too uneven in physical combat."

"So it will be a combat of minds", Lex continued the warriors thought, content that he was now accepting her plan, but a little ashamed of the way she had had to trick him. "I win if I can fool him long enough to stick him with the tranquilizers."

Scar's face was sour. He might have listened to Lex's request, but he wasn't forgetting anything. The same fury was still locked inside him, waiting to be settled. Lex wasn't sure if the predator could come anywhere near Stealth without exploding.

"So…", Lex tried carefully. "Maybe you should stay here while…"

"I'm coming with you!" Came the quick and stern reply. "And that is not negotiable."

Since there was obviously no arguing with that, Lex simply nodded. "But you'd better not show yourself. It would be difficult to explain why I would want to talk with him in private and even more why _you _would let me do that."

Scar nodded as well in agreement. There was still something off about him that worried Lex. He was relatively calm again, but his whole being was somehow rigid and his eyes distant. Lex sighed and received a questioning look from the hunter.

"Please stop that."

"What?"

"That pouting", Lex knew she had to make up for some of the shock she had caused Scar. She raised her hand and caressed one of the long dreadlocks that was swaying against his chest armor. "Sorry about the yanking. You know I just care about you too much to let you take such an unnecessary risk."

Scar looked at first like he was going to give her the cold shoulder, but to his annoyance, he found out that he couldn't. Her signs of affection had too big of an influence on him. He placed his own hand on Lex's to prolong the touch.

They were fine again and Lex thanked her luck that in spite of being quick-tempered, the predator was also quick to let things go. At least when it came to her. It would be a completely different matter with Stealth.

Lex was afraid to death of the possibility of Scar challenging the cunning warrior. She knew better than to tell Scar that, though. When someone considered dying honorably in a battle to be a desirable fate, there was really no point. She had no right to ask him to keep out of dangerous situations.

Once again Lex could only marvel the depth of her feelings for the humanoid warrior that seemed to have emerged suddenly from nowhere. Had these unexpected emotions been dormant the whole year ever since their first encounter? Whatever the case, she was now terrified of the thought of losing him.

She didn't want Scar fighting Stealth and unfortunately the only idea running wild in her mind was too questionable for her to consider. And yet she found herself thinking about it.

She could kill Stealth while he would be unconscious.

It would be far from heroic, but she was not one of them. Unlike Scar, she had no honorary obligations. Every logical part in her brain agreed that it would be best to get rid of the unpredictable predator, who clearly had been a threat to them the whole time. The problem with that was that she didn't think she could do it.

Her job was to keep people alive, not the opposite. Not even if it was someone like Stealth, it just went against her nature. The question she now had to face, was whether her nature was stronger than her will to keep Scar safe.

"We should go back, we have some planning to do", she pulled her hand gently free. "And we need to get those tranquilizers."

Scar grunted walking beside Lex. "If you're sending _that_ human to get them, I'm not going with him this time. Not even if he makes for a good bug lure."

Lex felt guilty for smirking at a mental image of Antonio tied to one end of a fishing line, while Scar would be holding the other, waiting for something to take a bite. Shaking her head, she vanquished the humorous image. That was just mean.

Nevertheless, she was happy for the brief distraction.

* * *

It had been some time since Annie had once again become preoccupied with her map, crossing out locations judging from what she saw on the still functioning monitors. Stealth was watching them too, and had already seen a couple more interesting events.

He had seen the same two males from before, except that they had now been joined by a third male he remembered very well. They had crossed the screen quickly enough for Stealth to be the only one to notice them.

What he found more interesting, though, was the thing he had spotted a while back. He had seen Scar and Lex alone in a corridor, arguing. He had no idea what it was about, but he had that ominous feeling again, which was making him restless. He would have to find out what was going on, and preferably sooner than later.

As it turned out, he didn't have to wait for too long.

The utter silence they had been surrounded by for a good while, shattered in what seemed like a thunderous boom as someone pounded on the door. Both Annie and Stealth shot quick looks at the door and waited.

"Hello? Annie?"

"Now what's Lex doing here?" Annie thought aloud, hiding the fact that she was curious to know what all the secrecy was about. "Come on in. The door's not locked."

A tentative push on the door and Lex stepped in. She stopped in front of the doorway, casting an inquiring look at the devastation in the room. "I heard from Antonio that you were coming here. Have you managed to find anything useful?"

"Maybe", Annie nodded. "I'm still not done here. What's going on with you, we saw you earlier having quite a heated conversation with your hunter friend."

Lex was instantly alarmed by this. She looked cautiously at Stealth, whose face was so far unreadable. She hoped they hadn't seen anything else, or she might have been heading straight for trouble. Still, it was too late to back out now, she had to do it.

"Yeah, just some small disagreements."

"Didn't look like anything small", Annie raised an eyebrow, but Lex only shrugged, not wanting to give any details. "Fine. Why don't you close the door and tell why you're here then?"

Lex hesitated for a second before taking the final leap to starting the plan. "Actually… I have something I need to talk about with Stealth."

The predator in question gave an expression of surprise, which quickly changed to an amused grin. "Why… of course… lead the way."

Lex left the room, feeling uneasy and nervous as the tall hunter followed her silently. She counted on her poker face to hold, but there were so many things that could go wrong that she couldn't stop her heart rate from going through the roof.

She led Stealth to a room they had agreed on with the others. Scar would be waiting somewhere near, ready to come to her aid if she called for him. Lex just wished he wasn't going to be close enough to hear everything.

Shedding all other thoughts from her mind, Lex turned around and faced the waiting hunter. Just looking at him made her regret ever coming up with her plan. It wasn't just being there with him, she had made it through their previous encounters. It was that she knew she would have to take the initiative.

"Look, I'll get straight to the point", Lex sounded more confident than she felt, starting her speech. "I need you to help me."

She knew very well how much Stealth must have been enjoying the situation and normally she would have hated it, but in this case, it worked to her advantage. As long as he was amused, he thought he was in control of the game and wasn't being too careful.

"Help you?" Stealth tilted his head, speaking teasingly. "I think… I've done enough… without getting anything… in return."

"And that's exactly what I'm willing to offer you now", Lex spoke with a serious face, preparing herself for the things to come. She put the spear she had been carrying everywhere, down on top of a crate and stepped closer to the now baffled predator. "You've honored your part of the deal and let my friends live, now I want to keep my end of it. Tell me what you want."

Making sure she wasn't being unclear with her offer, Lex fought back her repulsion and placed her hand on the bare part of the hunter's chest, sliding it down to his tight abdomen. "Is this still what you want?"

Stealth grabbed her wrist and Lex feared she had been too forward. "Why… are you doing… this?"

"Because it's practical", Lex was sure the insanely loud beating of her heart was enough to shatter her credibility. "I'm not going to pretend I'm happy with this, but a deal is still a deal and I don't have a habit of breaking my promises. Most importantly, I still need your help."

"So… you say", Stealth sounded doubtful. "What kind of… help?"

That part had been difficult to think up. She didn't have anything good, but she wished it would be believable enough. "Scar's trying to make me leave. He thinks being here is too risky for me with the queen and facehuggers and…"

"And?"

Lex kept a slight pause as if hesitating. "You."

That got a triumphant look on Stealth's face. "Then he can't be… too happy… of you being here."

"What he doesn't know, won't hurt him."

Stealth could've obviously listened to much more of that, but Lex was too anxious to stay in that topic. "I need your help to get to a high security room, where they keep the explosive material. Scar won't help me and I need someone strong to break the door. So will you help me?"

She could see that Stealth was weighing his options. In other words, he was buying her act. So far, at least.

When the hunter didn't say anything for a while, Lex lowered her eyes and shook her head with a remorseful look. "Actually… maybe we should just forget it. I don't think this was a good idea after all."

She pretended to be leaving, when Stealth's grip on her wrist tightened. He pulled her back forcefully enough that Lex slammed against him. She had hurried him to make a decision on purpose, but now seeing the gleam in the predator's golden eyes almost made her back out of the whole thing.

"Don't be… so hasty", Stealth purred, lifting the woman's chin up, so that she had no choice, but to look at him. "I didn't… say no."

Lex didn't have to put on an act anymore. She was terrified for real, and it showed. It had become clear that Stealth wasn't going to let her go without getting something first. It took all the self-discipline Lex had to keep herself from panicking when the predator let go of her and started slowly circling around her.

He stopped behind her and Lex felt his sharp claws on her neck, moving her hair over her shoulder. He leaned in closer, maybe to enjoy the scent of her fear, she didn't know. She kept her concentration on reminding herself what she was there for.

She didn't dare to try anything yet, she wanted to wait until the hunter would be completely focused on what he was doing. So focused that he wouldn't notice her sneaking the small tranquilizer darts into her hands from where she was keeping them in her clothes. She only hoped she could wait that long.

Stealth was studying her thoroughly, using one hand to feel her hair, then the back of her neck, moving to the front and with a light touch of his fingers, drawing a line up to the frozen woman's cheek. The other hand was doing a round on her lower back and stomach. The whole time he stayed close to her and Lex could almost feel her back touching his stomach, but not quite.

He was still teasing her, she realized. It wasn't what she had expected, she had thought the predator would take a more… direct approach. She wasn't sure, which would have been worse, him bluntly forcing her down or this subtle way of exploring and finding her buttons. What she did know, was that she wanted it to be over as quickly as possible.

Lex had three tranquilizer darts on her, one plainly in both of her pants' pockets, wrapped in handkerchiefs so they wouldn't sting her so easily. The third one was in her other boot, taped inside it. She decided to take the first chance she would get.

Stealth was still oblivious to her intentions, but even unknowingly he was making it more difficult for her to do what she was planning. Just as she had been thinking if she could slowly reach into her pockets without being noticed, the hunter grabbed her arm and turned her around.

She hadn't even stopped turning, when she was already being pushed backwards, making her almost stumble. She was soon against a wall and before she knew it, she was gazing again into the eyes of the smirking warrior.

"Should we get… started then?" Stealth asked gloatingly. "Show me… how willing you are… like you said."

Lex instinctively fought back when the predator took her hand and guided it to touch his stomach uncomfortably close to his groin. This made him laugh. "What's… the matter? You're not going to… do anything for me? That's… fine." He lowered himself to the woman's eyelevel. "Then I'll just… help myself."

Stealth grabbed the collar of Lex's sweater and tore the front of it open with a forceful tug. Underneath it, she was wearing a top that now gave the hunter a very generous view. He focused on watching Lex's reactions as he let his thumb slide on the bare skin. Her breathing became shallow, almost stopping as he got lower, pulling the top down as he went.

Then Stealth moved his hand away, placing it on her hip, while his other hand kept hers in place next to her head. This time he lowered his head down to her chest and Lex felt the warm breath and the sharp mandibles grazing her breasts. This caused her to struggle again, and she tried to push the predators shoulder with her free hand, to no avail.

Lex was left with one possible option and she decided that now was the time to use it. She snatched a dart from her pocket without much cautiousness and brought her hand up again, driving the dart straight into the back of the hunter's neck.

Stealth was definitely surprised, that part of the plan went as it should have. As soon as Lex had gotten the first dart in, she began reaching for the other pocket to get the second. She got it, but not before Stealth got her.

The surprised look on the hunter's face as he raised the woman's hand to see what she had, changed into realization when he saw the dart. With an angry snarl, he made Lex drop it and then shattered it under his foot.

Immediately Lex tried to get away, but she couldn't break the hold Stealth had on her. She noticed something, however, while trying. Her hopes of the tranquilizer working, were lifted when the predator staggered slightly. She doubled her efforts, kicking and pushing against him with everything she got.

Soon there was no doubt that Stealth was affected, as his grip on her started loosening. Clearly disoriented, he took a step back, trying to fight the drug. Lex was freed and she used the opportunity to run to the spear she had left on the crate.

The one dart probably wasn't enough to keep the powerful predator out of it for long, but Lex figured it would be enough for her to do what she had come to do. Extending the spear she whacked the hunter on the head with it and watched him fall.

Nervous, but driven by an adrenaline surge, Lex knelt down beside Stealth and pointed the tip of the spear at his throat. "Don't move." She commanded, holding the spear in place with one hand while she looked at the wrist device. She did as Scar had instructed her and got the device to click open. The easy part was done. Now there was still the other thing she was supposed to do.

Stealth wasn't moving, but he was watching her with a look that promised horrible things for her. Lex hesitated. Killing the predator would remove so many problems in the future and it was what she had decided to do, but could she…

"Whoa…"

The sudden realization that they weren't alone anymore startled Lex. Her eyes darted to the door where she saw Annie and Scar standing. Annie looked surprised by the situation she was witnessing, but then her expression hardened.

"You're going to kill him?"

Lex said nothing, which was answer enough.

"Need help?"

The deed had been difficult even to think before and now that she had an audience, Lex just felt more conflicted. Stealth on the other hand, used this diversion to his benefit.

"You… don't want… me dead", he was talking to Annie.

The short-haired woman crossed her arms across her chest. "Oh, really? And why is that?"

"I saw something… on the monitors… you didn't."

All of them were quiet, not knowing where the sneaky predator was going with this. "That… friend of yours… is alive."

At first Annie didn't now what he was meaning, but soon her eyes widened with shock. "You mean Mark?"

"Yes."

Annie lost her words for a while, trying hard not to get her hopes too up. "Even if that's true, I don't need you to find him."

"On the… contrary", Stealth smiled smugly, knowing he would soon gain the upper hand. "He most likely… doesn't have… much time. Not when he's… with the human who… set the bugs free."

"Vincent!" Annie exclaimed, squeezing her hands into tight fists.

"I saw… where they were going."

"I don't think this is a good idea", Lex interrupted them, not moving the spear anywhere from the hunter's throat. "You can't trust him."

Annie stood silent and Scar took a step forward, eyeing Lex's torn clothing and nodding to her. "Do it."

For a second there, everyone held their breath, then the moment ended in a clicking sound.

"What?" Lex gasped, surprised by the sight of Annie pointing her gun to Scar's head.

Annie's face was dead serious. "Let him go. Now."


	32. The final picture starts to form

Oh no, i can't believe that this story is actually finally beginning to near the end. Not quite yet of course, there are still lots of things to happen, but we're starting to get there. :P

_xXxMudvayneGirlxXx_: Thank you very much! :D I'm glad you weren't bothered by the cliffhanger i usually like to put at the end. ;P

_GrayHuntress_: I know, i know... even i didn't see that coming. ;P

_Jorda96_: Thanks! :) Strange indeed *ashamed of herself -_-,* But i just had to get a moment like that in here somewhere. xP

_blackangel150_: Well, what wouldn't she do for Mark. :)

_AMYLEE_ _PRIME_: Thank you! :) And don't worry, i understood you perfectly well. ^^ And yes, everyone sure seems surpised by Annie's actions. I'll have to make her make up for it somehow. :P

_MrsTayla_: Probably yes. She after all does understand him in a weird way. :)

_bree51_: Thaaanks! :D I hope this didn't take too long.

_SouzouWriter_: Yaaay! Someone mentioned the 'hair tug'! xD And thank you for the very amusing and kind comment! :D

_anon_: He'll just have to live... for now at least O_O Oh, and yes i will keep writing until the end of this story and more and more after that. :D

_Deadman19_: Why thank you! :D I will do that.

_Transformers'_ _BABY_: Alright! :D

_Dragowolf_: Yes... isn't that convenient. :3 And no problem about the desk. I've been thinking of installing a mini fridge there too. x)

_Karau_: Oh, i can't say no to that... or can i... Mwahahahaa! xD Seriously, thanks for liking Stealth that much. :)

_Nicola_: Thank you! :) It's strange, Stealth has this dark influence on people. After a while you fall under his spell. And if that doesn't happen, he'll come over and Paya only knows what will happen then. o_o

_ShiningGalaxy_: Oh hi, i remember you! :D I don't blame you since it took me ages to start continuing this story again. On the contrary, i'm very happy that you still find this story to be worthy of re-reading. :) I won't be taking any more long breaks until this is finished.

* * *

"What… Annie… put the gun away, Annie", Lex struggled to speak through her shock. "You can't be serious. You can't trust him."

"I don't", the brown-haired woman stated outright, keeping her eyes and gun still aimed at Scar. "But if there's even a small chance… however small… that he could be alive, I have to find him."

"That's exactly the kind of thing he would do", Lex referred to the predator who was quietly assessing the situation from his uncomfortable position. "He knows that's what gets to you. He's using your soft spot. Just look at him."

Annie was smarter than that and didn't turn her eyes away from Scar, who no doubt was looking for a chance to snatch the gun from her. "This conversation is futile, but it doesn't have to end badly. You put down your weapon and I'll put down mine."

Lex and Scar had a silent conversation of their own with their eyes. Neither was comfortable with the idea of letting the cunning and most likely now vengeful hunter free. But then again, both knew that Scar couldn't guarantee he would be able to disarm the skilled woman before he would get shot. Lex, at least, wasn't ready to take that chance.

"I'll do that, but only on one condition", she turned her attention to Stealth. "I want you to swear on your honor that you're not lying about Mark, and that you'll help Annie find him."

In any other case that would have sounded childish and naïve, but Lex counted again on the predators' honor code. Stealth seemed to ponder her request for a second and nodded then as much as the spear on his throat allowed him to move.

"I swear… on my honor… I'm not lying… and I will… help her."

Lex looked at Scar for confirmation that Stealth's word could be trusted, and after a moment of hesitation, the hunter nodded slowly. Lex took a deep breath. She had a bad feeling about this. Stealth had given his word so easily, despite the humiliating situation he was in. He might keep it, but there was no telling what else he was planning to do.

She removed the spear carefully and made sure Annie was putting her gun away also. Stealth didn't try to get up and Lex figured the drug was still affecting his movements. The situation was all in all very tense, which was not surprising after everything that had just happened.

"So everything okay now?" Lex asked Annie, but instead of the woman, she got her answer from Stealth.

"Not yet."

Lex had believed that Stealth wouldn't do anything now that Scar was with them, but her assumption was proven wrong, when the predator suddenly raised his arm towards her. She tried to back away, but couldn't do it fast enough. She was left staring at her now empty hand, where she had just been holding the stolen wrist device.

Scar had sprung to action as soon as he saw Stealth moving, but not even he was fast enough to get to him in time. Stealth smashed the device to the floor with all his strength, which was still a lot even with the drug weakening him.

"No!" Lex shouted frustrated, looking at the broken apparatus while getting lifted up and pulled back by Scar. She was angry and as the whole situation began dawning on her, she also felt increasingly scared. She turned around, Scar's arms still protectively around her. "What do we do now?"

Scar looked at the woman's worried eyes and then to the smug look on the other predator's face. Stealth was clearly satisfied that they hadn't gotten what they had wanted, even though he didn't know what they had been trying to do.

"Don't worry", Scar calmed Lex. "There's still a way."

He guided Lex out of the room, but not before Stealth's one last reminder. "The deal is… still on… don't forget that."

After that it switched to mostly Lex guiding the growling Scar out, before he would change his mind about Stealth. When they were too far for even Stealth's keen hearing to pick up their words, Lex opened her mouth.

"So what did you mean by saying that there's a way? A way to get the message sent?"

Scar looked at her, not saying a word. Lex realized that he was looking at her sweater which had been badly torn. Looking down herself she noticed for the first time the small cuts that had been trickling blood. Now they had dried into bright red lines on her skin.

Embarrassed, she took the useless cloth off and used it to wipe the dried up blood as well as she could. "What are the chances of us pretending this didn't happen?"

"I'm still going to kill him", came Scar's ominous answer. "And when the time comes for that, there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Lex nearly rolled her eyes at the stubborn warrior, but not wanting to seem like she was protecting Stealth, she instead asked him about the idea again.

"It's not without problems", Scar also let the previous subject go. "But it's now our only hope of getting the message to the ship."

Lex had no clue what he was thinking. They had no more communicators and she was pretty much sure that they couldn't use anything they had in the facility to send any messages.

Scar continued: "Now that neither of our devices are functioning, there's no way for the others to know if we're alive, so they'll be sending someone to check things out."

"Another hunter?" Lex wasn't so sure if she considered that a good thing.

Scar nodded. "Someone more experienced. He'll try to find out what happened to us if he can."

Lex pondered what she had heard. "So he can send the message and we'll get some additional help to keep the bugs at bay?" Suddenly it started to seem like a much better idea.

Unfortunately her new hopes were shot down by Scar's correction. "No, he won't help us, since it's our hunt. I can ask him to relay the message, but after that, he's just going to be observing and waiting for the outcome."

"What happens when everything's over?"

"Then I'm expected to return to the ship."

"And will you?"

"It is as we talked before", Scar's eyes were full of assurance. "I will stay here with you."

Lex found herself feeling relieved to hear that. She gave the warrior a warm smile which he returned by brushing her cheek the same gentle way he had done many times during that day. Lex felt bad she had to break the pleasant atmosphere, but their conversation wasn't over yet.

"How many problems do we have with this plan?"

"One big problem."

"Stealth."

Lex hadn't needed any help to guess that. She was already regretting she hadn't killed the predator when she had the chance. "What do we do about him?

"Let him go with your friend. He's in a weakened state and she's not stupid, though foolhardy maybe."

Scar saw Lex hesitating. "We can't let him be with us when I ask for help, he would never go with it. And if both of us don't agree on stopping the hunt, it won't happen."

"So what then? Are you going to say he's dead?"

"I can say that I presume him to be dead. That is, if we even find this hunter."

"And we still have to get everyone out of here before anything can get blown up", Lex added, not liking how the problems were beginning to pile up. Why was it things never went the easy way?

With a final sigh Lex approved the new plan. "I guess there's no choice then. I still hate leaving Annie with him, but you're right, she can take care of herself. And if we hang onto the walkie-talkies, we can warn them to get the hell out of here when the time comes."

There was still one variable, though, and that was Vincent. If it was indeed him Stealth had seen with the others, there might be additional trouble. Lex was pretty sure the man had already lost his mind, no sane man would release the xenomorphs into a facility with unsuspecting people in it.

The upside to the others going there, was that Annie wasn't the only one holding a grudge against the crazed man. Stealth remembered him too, and not in a good way. If it would come to a situation where Mark was used as a hostage, Annie would back down for certain, but Stealth wouldn't. It was a horrible thought, but Lex knew the hunter well enough to suspect that he would still keep his promise of not killing her friends.

At least if he was going to get her to keep her part of the deal.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Keith's face was doubtful as he eyed the duo that was about to leave them again.

Lex gave him a reassuring smile and nodded. "Yes, we'll be fine. I'm more worried about what Vincent might have up his sleeves. You two go with Annie and Stealth and try to keep them out of trouble."

Antonio grimaced. "That's asking a lot."

Annie followed the situation indifferently. Neither her nor Stealth had said hardly anything after the confrontation earlier. Lex had used pretty much all of her persuasion skills to convince the impatient woman to join the others before leaving to find Mark. Stealth had cast a few smug looks at Scar's way, but knew better than to get the hotheaded warrior riled up when he was in a weakened state.

Lex had finally managed to explain to Annie everything they had been trying to do and what was their only option now. Stealth was now the only one unaware of their plan and Lex intended things to stay that way. Of course the hunter knew they were keeping information from him, but there really wasn't any way for him to make them reveal it. Not with Scar around keeping an eye on him.

"You remember the route I told you?" Antonio wanted to make sure before letting Lex leave.

"Yeah, don't worry", she assured him. Then she turned her eyes to Annie. "Be ready when we signal you", Lex referred to the walkie-talkie she had gotten from Antonio. "And be careful."

Annie threw an icy glance at Stealth, before looking back to Lex. "If he's been lying to us, I'll kill him myself."

Strangely enough, Lex noticed that Stealth had nothing to say to that. Perhaps he took the woman's words more seriously than one might have thought. After all, Annie had proven that she wasn't afraid of the predators and that she was quick with a gun.

"Alright, we'll go then."

Feeling nervous, she walked out of the room with Scar. She was nervous for leaving the others with so many problems, the main one being Stealth, but she was also starting to get nervous about going to find the other hunter. She was pretty sure Scar was an exception among his kind and that others wouldn't appreciate her presence nearly as much.

She just hoped Stealth too was an exception and that the hunter arriving wouldn't share any of his qualities.

* * *

Annie wasn't worried about Stealth. She had a job to do and she was going to do it, no matter what. She would find Mark and stop Vincent, and then get everyone out before the whole place would go boom.

"Time to show how much your word is worth", they had returned to the surveillance room and Annie was staring at the monitors in front of her. Stealth came beside her, pointing at the first monitor. Normally, after everything she had witnessed and learned about the large predator, she would have felt very uneasy having him stand so close to her, but now her determination kept her focused on what was important. Besides, there was no mistaking that Stealth's moves were still slower and clearly clumsier than before.

Silently the warrior showed her three monitors. Annie frowned, puzzled. "So they went up, but not the quickest way that would have led almost straight to surface. I bet Vincent is leading them somewhere for a specific purpose, and it's not to help them."

"Well where's that and what does he even want?" Keith sounded frustrated. There had already been too much waiting while everyone else was doing something. That didn't suit the big man well.

Antonio had one answer to offer him. "He wants all the hunters dead or off our planet. He's been obsessed with that as long as I've known him. And I don't think he's going to let anyone get in his way."

Annie squeezed her hand angrily into a tight fist and moved to examine the map she had left in the room. "There's nothing of importance where they seem to be heading. A couple of storage rooms, one ladder to the surface, the loading…"

Annie's talking ended abruptly as her brains started to form a picture for her. "No…that can't be it."

The woman's suddenly shocked tone alarmed the others. "What?" Came a simultaneous question from the two men. Annie hushed them and continued frantically searching for another answer from the map. She couldn't find one. "Tell me", she said without looking away from the paper. "What would a hunter do if the bugs were able to spread uncontrollably?"

Stealth quickly caught on what the woman was thinking and confirmed what she already suspected. "He would have to… detonate the self-destruct… on his wrist device… and blow up everything in the vicinity… including himself."

The horrible possibility slowly dawned on Antonio and Keith as well. "No…" Antonio breathed. "He's going to let them out? On purpose? Again?"

"He's crazy, that shows it", Keith shook his head in disbelief. "And he doesn't know they can't use their self-destruct mechanisms anymore."

"The hatch in the loading hall's ceiling is big enough for the queen to get through", Annie folded the map with haste and took off to the door while talking. "If we don't stop Vincent now, we're going to have a disaster in our hands."

* * *

"You think we'll find anybody when we get out of here?" Mark asked quietly. They had been following Vincent for a good while now and still hadn't seen anyone or anything else. They had gone up a ladder so that meant they were getting closer to the surface. Mark was really beginning to fear that they were the only ones left.

"Of course we will", the older sheriff said calmly. The truth was, he had no idea. They had been lucky, only running into one of the bugs so far. He had no idea how many there still could be, or maybe there were none. Maybe it was just this one escapee.

"We're almost there", Vincent seemed more excited every minute they got closer. The other two could understand that, since they were also anxious to get out. What they didn't understand was, why the man leading them in a hurry suddenly stopped.

"Oh, wait."

The two men behind him stopped too and the sheriff raised one grey eyebrow. "What is it?"

Vincent looked like he had thought of something new. "I need to get something before we leave."

"And what's that?"

The suspicious tone in the sheriff's voice didn't go unnoticed by Vincent. He made what he thought was a friendly smile, but what to the sheriff seemed more like a snake trying to beguile its victim.

"We still have the remote controls to the xenomorphs' collars near here", Vincent started his lie. "If we get one of those, we can kill them with one push of a button."

Mark's face lit up. "Really? That's great! And you know where they are?"

"Of course", Vincent assured. "Just follow me."

It seemed too good to be true, but the sheriff couldn't deny it. He knew the remotes were real and that they were made to stop the bugs if need be. And who wouldn't have wanted to stop them when they were loose?

They passed a large hall with a telescopic mobile crane and the sheriff wondered its purpose until he noticed the ceiling, which could clearly be opened. So it was some kind of a loading area.

The place Vincent was after wasn't far from it. The room they ended up in, was full of research equipment from large machines to small jars that looked like you could store somebody's head in there.

Vincent went straight to a cabinet and got down on one knee to search through it. The sheriff took a step closer, trying to see what the man was doing.

"Did you really just now think of the remotes? Not right away when you found out the bugs had gotten out?"

"Oh no, of course not", Vincent turned and extended his arm casually. It took the sheriff a moment to realize he was holding a gun and that he had just fired it. He knew he had to shoot back and then make sure the youngster hadn't been hit.

He couldn't lift the shotgun. His hands simply didn't do what he told them to do. Puzzled by this, the grey-haired sheriff tried to see what was wrong with them. His attention was drawn by a rapidly growing red stain on his abdomen.

The weapon fell to the floor, his fingers too numb to hold it anymore. With a vague understanding that he had been hit and that he was dying, the elderly sheriff fell down.

Vincent held something in his other hand, while changing his aim to Mark. "I had the remotes with me from the beginning. This is what I needed."

Mark was paralyzed. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't understand what had just happened and why. His friend lay there on the floor and the man who was supposed to be on their side was holding a gun on him.

"Now you", Vincent got up with the same snake's smile on his face. "Don't do anything that would force me to shoot you. I still have use for you."


	33. A little alone time

_MrsTayla_: Thank you! :) I would never make another Stealth, he's the one and only. ^^ You might just get your wish...

_xXxMudvayneGirlxXx_: Thanks! :D That's good. :)

_werecatninja_: Heh, thank you! ^_^

_SouzouWriter_: I'm glad you understand that about Vincent. He just has to be that way. :)

_GrayHuntress_: Yes, Scar is the greatest protector! :)

_bree51_: Thank you! :D There sure is a weird understanding between Annie and Stealth. :P

_blackangel150_: Yep! :)

_Dragowolf_: Oh, trust me, it doesn't take much to piss off a predator. You just have to know where to strike. :) I think, though, that after this chapter i'm going to have to hide from Scar for a change. ;) You'll understand soon...

_RKF22_: Thank you, i will! :)

_Deadman19_: Thank you! :) See here and be amazed! xD (just kidding xP)

_Bookworm_ _Gal_: Thank you very much! :D I should hope so, i can't even stand looking at the earlier chapters i've written. x)

_Luv4Uncas_: Trying to give Stealth a hug... that idea has never ever even crossed my mind! O_O That would probably have scary consequences.

_Jorda96_: Thanks! :D Yep, there seems to be a lot of Vincent hating going on... :)

I don't own AvP.

* * *

Lex had forgotten how fresh the outside air was. They had spent the whole day underground, so it was no wonder. The sun had already set behind the trees, its last rays still casting a red and orange hue to the sky. It would soon vanish and make room for the serene moon and countless stars that were already starting to show up.

She doubted Scar enjoyed the scenery or the air as much as her, since he was probably used to a completely different environment, but who knew. She turned her head to look at the tall warrior next to her. His eyes were going through the shadowy woods, searching.

"You think he's here already?"

Scar shook his head and turned his gaze from the surroundings to Lex. "Not yet, but probably soon. We'll just have to wait."

Lex pointed her finger behind the hunter. "There's a lookout tower. We should get a better view from there."

They headed to the wooden structure silently and climbed its stairs all the way up. There Lex leaned against the railing and took a deep breath. She could see the moon behind the trees, a full circle, like a gigantic eye looking back at them.

The air hadn't been that warm to begin with and now it was getting colder. Lex shivered in her top, cursing the ripped sweater in her mind. Suddenly, however, he was surrounded by warmth.

Scar's arms came around her and Lex couldn't help but to smile when the warrior pulled her deeper into the embrace. The electric mesh he was wearing, warmed her back and the areas where his arms were.

They stood there, pressed together, in silent understanding. Lex wondered when they had formed this connection she felt. She let her head fall back against Scar's chest. Watching the moon made her remember when she had been watching the same full moon a year ago.

"La luna del cacciatore."

"Hmm?"

"Hunter's moon", Lex explained her sudden statement. "That's what the moon is called this time of the year. Quite a coincidence that you are again here at the same time with it."

"I don't think this is a coincidence", Scar said quietly and Lex heard the certainty in his voice. "There are things in our lives that are meant to happen. We make our destinies with what we choose to do in these situations."

"What do you think will be our destiny?"

"No one can know beforehand", Scar shook his head, though Lex couldn't see it. "But I do know what I would choose to do with you."

Lex understood the meaning of the predator's words. "You keep talking like that. You must be very confident of your skills."

"I am", Scar assured her and Lex had to make a little crooked smile.

"I don't know", she wanted to tease the confident hunter a bit. "It's not like you could even kiss me."

"That may be so", Scar let her go and moved his hands past her to the railing, leaning closer to the woman's ear. "But I believe I have other attributes that will make up for that."

Lex felt a shiver again and this time it wasn't because of the cold. On the contrary, she was feeling warmer by the second. At that moment, she made her decision.

"Then show me", she turned around and faced the suddenly baffled warrior. She ditched her spear and took off her top, leaving her only with her bra.

Scar raised an eye ridge at the woman's unexpected advance. Then a mischievous smirk spread on his face. "As you wish."

Lex knew that look didn't bode well for her. "What are you planning?"

Scar didn't answer the question yet, just nodded towards the rest of her clothes. "Take them off."

It was a command, there was no doubt about that. Lex was pretty sure she had to obey if she knew what was best for her clothes. She kicked off her shoes and moved to unbutton her pants. All the while Scar watched her every move until she was in her underwear.

Then it was Lex's turn to watch as Scar started removing his pieces of armor one by one. The hunter's muscular build had been obvious before, but now seeing it being more exposed in a situation like this made her heart-rate go up in anticipation.

She couldn't keep herself from guessing what it would be like with him. She knew just from his physical appearance that he was very strong and that he would have stamina. What she still wanted to know, had to do with what was under the last piece of cloth he was still wearing.

Scar saw her staring at him with a pondering look. "Everything alright?"

Lex snapped out of it, and to her annoyance, blushed a bit. After all the times she had slowed down the predator's attempts of coming on to her, now she was the one lusting after him. "Yeah, of course."

"Good", Scar's reply was brief. Lex caught a glimpse of hunger in his eyes and then the hunter was already moving. It took only a second and Lex realized she was on her back on the wooden floor, Scar on top, straddling her. "Because I'm not going to stop anytime soon."

Lex would have been a dirty rotten liar if she had claimed she was not turned on. She was, in fact, incredibly turned on. She didn't want to just lie there, she wanted to make the warrior feel the same way she did.

Scar leaned forward, hovering over her for a moment, their eyes locked in an intense stare. It didn't break when Scar put his hand on Lex's bare stomach and started tracing it up and down. Lex held her breath every time he reached the lowest point on her panties and the highest on her bra.

Scar clearly enjoyed watching her squirming. Lex loved what he was doing, but at the same time she wasn't ready to let everything go his way.

"I want to see all of you", she demanded and Scar's hand stopped. He seemed to ponder her request.

"Aren't you hasty", he purred, taking his time and drawing circles on her thigh with his thumb. "But if that's what you want…"

Lex gave him her best 'I'm going to get you for this' -look, for making her say it when it was obvious. "Yes, I want it."

"How badly?"

"Oh, don't push your luck. I can still change my mind."

"No you won't."

Scar was right and he was reading her like an open book. Lex tried to come up with an answer, but managed only a sharp moan as Scar took his other hand into the game as well and slid it under her bra.

"I guess that means pretty badly."

"Why you…" Lex didn't know whether to be angry or just laugh. "Are you seriously trying to piss me off?"

"No", Scar took back his hand and stroked her cheek affectionately. "I'm trying to get you ready, so that I can, as you say here on Earth, fuck you."

The blunt announcement came so suddenly and combined with the affectionate gesture it almost made Lex blush again. She fought it back, however, and fixed a steady gaze on the hunter.

"Well, in that case, I really think you should take the loin cloth off."

Scar grinned at her and straightened himself. "Maybe you're right."

It didn't take him long to remove the cloth and Lex was left staring at the impressive member that was very fitting to the size of the hunter.

Except that it was bright pink and had a little bowtie on it.

Right then their attention was caught by the sight of a secret door opening on the ground and Vincent flying up with the predalien queen going nom nom nom on his ass. Vincent was of course alive, but not anymore after the queen's tail for some reason caught on fire and pierced Vincent's body, after which, Scar streaked over there to tear off his head and spine. Those one day made an excellent trophy in his living room.

Everyone were so happy that Vincent was gone they decided to leave the rest of the fighting to another time and go for tee.

The end.

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Or April fools! :D

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Sorry for tricking you, this really didn't happen. I hope you weren't too disappointed. Really, I'm so sorry for this chapter! I understand if your unsuspecting minds have been ruined forever O_O You don't have to read from this point on, but I just want to take a moment to thank you all.

One day I happened to take a closer look on my page and statistics and I noticed that this story already has almost 127 000 hits and over 500 reviews and I went like 'whoa'. o_o

That's an insane amount for something I started to write just for my own fun. So thank you, really thank you! If you hadn't been pushing me to continue this, I'm not sure what would have been the fate of this story.

It's been going on for so long that many things have changed in my life during it. I moved away from my parents' house, I found my dear, though sometimes irritating, boyfriend, we moved in together, I graduated from school and lately we've been discussing about having children sometime soon. That's a lot of things.

I hope you have also had wonderful things in your life as well as made through the tough times and came out stronger.

Making stories is, and has been since I learned to write, one of the most important things in my life, so I can't tell you how grateful I am for all of your support. And I love that there are people reading this all around the world. :)

Thank you!

Kiitos!

Tack!

Grazie!

Gracias!

Merci!

Arigato!

Danke!

(Don't know any more languages, sorry, these are what I studied in school :P)


	34. The truth revealed

I see the april fool's chapter was a success, judging by how confused you were. xD Sorry about that still. :P I want to make it clear that you can forget about that chapter, nothing about it happened for real. I gotta say, though, i was laughing quite a lot while reading the comments. XD

And another matter, i'm not ending the story just yet. I'm not good at ending stories or chapters, so i'll probably drag it out for a good while. xP

_NyanToTheCat:_ Just the reaction i was hoping for. :D Thank you very much! x)

_xXxSaiyanPrincessxXx:_ Hehehehee! xD I was waiting for many '...what?' comments and i wasn't disappointed. Oh no, b-day in april fool's day, people won't know if it's for real or a prank. O_o Or maybe they will. :P

_werecatninja:_ And i laughed evilly at your disbelief. XD Mwhahahaa!

_bree51:_ Heh! Thank you for your positivity. It's cheering up my day. :)

_Teddy-wabbitz_: Thank you! And glad that you found it amusing. :)

_SouzouWriter:_ I am deeply sorry for your suffering. I promise i won't do it again in this story. xP

_Iamluck:_ Nope. Definitely not. :)

_Meramor:_ Thanks! :D Yeah, i think there would have been some reason to question the remains of my sanity if i had made this an actual chapter. x)

_MrsTayla:_ Oh, you're an observant one, aren't you. ;) And dammit, i felt so embarrassed when i realized i had misspelled a simple word like 'tea'. XO How is that even possible? Well, anyway, here's some more of that drama for you. :)

_AMYLEE PRIME_: Lo siento. xP But don't worry, it's not going to end yet. :)

_blackangel150:_ Yep, they almost did, but the temptation to interrupt them and confuse the hell out of everyone was too much. xD

_Dragowolf:_ I know. I'm as good as dead. xP I already drew a picture of him searching for me and i would draw a picture of what happens when he finds me, but i really can't think of how i would get out of that one. ^^; But glad that you liked it. :D

_Themulesrule1902:_ Hehe! Thank you! :D And no, it's not the end. :) I was really embarrassed the whole time i wrote the end of that chapter, i could hardly bring myself to write the words pink and bowtie. xD

Sea9262: Thanks! :) I will never be able to think bowties without that image in my head. I hope you won't suffer the same. xD

_Jorda96:_ Thanks, i'm honored! xD

_Laika923:_ Yes, for some reason i remembered _someone_ saying something like that and decided i had to put it somewhere in the story. Glad that you noticed :D And sorry for the mental scars... xP

_RKF22:_ Thank you very much! :)

_MaiWishes_: Heh, i think almost nobody saw that coming. ^^; But no, nothing of that really happened, so you can relax. :) And i would never be able to finish this story so quickly so expect a lot more chapters. I'm really glad you decided to look for those perverted stories and found my little perverted story. x) It's great that you can find people that like the same preverted things that you do. I've found it's futile to try to explain what i'm writing to my friends, they don't get it. Luckily my sister does and she's the same kind of a weirdo that i am. xD

I don't own AvP.

* * *

Lex had forgotten how fresh the outside air was. They had spent the whole day underground, so it was no wonder. The sun had already set behind the trees, its last rays still casting a red and orange hue to the sky. It would soon vanish and make room for the serene moon and countless stars that were already starting to show up.

She doubted Scar enjoyed the scenery or the air as much as her, since he was probably used to a completely different environment, but who knew. She turned her head to look at the tall warrior next to her. His eyes were going through the shadowy woods, searching.

"You think he's here already?"

Scar shook his head and turned his gaze from the surroundings to Lex. "Not yet, but probably soon. We'll just have to wait."

"I hope it won't take long", Lex tried to peer at the darkening forest, knowing she would never see the hunter coming, but trying anyway. "I don't like leaving the others like this."

"It was either that or leaving you there with Stealth and that's not an option."

The way Scar said his fellow hunter's name, sounded like he had been talking about something particularly disgusting that could be found on the bottom of someone's shoe. Lex decided it was better not to continue on the subject.

They stood there in silence for an unknown amount of time, eyes moving between the trees around them. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but soon Lex had more questions in her mind.

"What about the hunter arriving then? Do you know who he is?"

"I'm not sure", Scar admitted. "But I have my suspicions."

"And what do you think he'll do when he sees me?"

"You don't have to worry about that. You have the hunter's mark. He won't do anything to you."

Lex wanted to point out that it hadn't stopped Stealth, but since the subject was still taboo, she said nothing about that. She was hoping that Stealth was an exception.

"Besides", Scar remembered something. "He might already know about you."

He smiled at the woman's confused face and explained. "In our last visit, quite a lot of hunters saw you fighting the queen with me and those who didn't, quickly heard about it from the others on the ship. After I had recovered, I had to answer a lot of questions about you."

Lex managed not to laugh, but couldn't hide her grin. "I didn't realize your culture included gossiping too."

Scar growled as if offended and pulled the now laughing woman into an inescapable hold in his arms. "Watch it, you know I…"

"_Scar!_"

Both Scar and Lex froze at the sound of the new voice. Scar let go of Lex immediately and turned to face the speaker. "Wolf?"

Wolf? Lex searched for the source of the clicking sounds she had heard. She found it after the newly arrived hunter deactivated his cloaking device, taking his mask off.

Scar had been so surprised by the older hunter suddenly appearing, he had answered him in English. Now he switched back to their own language. "_I thought it might be you coming here._"

"_And I see you're still alive_"_,_ Wolf stated with a stern look on his face. Then he glanced at Lex. "_What's the meaning of this?_"

Scar instinctively took a step in front of Lex to partially hide her. "_She's a warrior too, she has earned the mark of…_"

"_I know who she is_", the older hunter interrupted with a harsh tone. "_I saw what happened in your trial, young blood. I know you marked her as a hunter. What I don't know is why? And why is she with you again?_"

From the hunter's look and the way how Scar was shielding her, Lex knew she was the topic of their conversation. She noticed how tense Scar had gotten and it made her tense up too. She guessed Scar was defending her in some way. Whatever it was, she wasn't going to let him do it on his own.

Stepping forward away from Scar's protection, Lex quickly got both of the predator's attention. "If there's something that concerns me, I would like to have a say in this conversation."

The talking halted and Scar looked like he would have wanted to push her behind his back again and keep her there by force if need be. The older warrior's look was more complex, as if trying to decide whether to find the small creature in front of him interesting or insolent.

"_What is she saying_", he asked Scar, not taking his eyes off of the strange human.

"_She wants to speak for herself _", Scar translated and then switched to English. "Lex, this is not a good idea. Be very careful with what you do now."

Lex didn't need a reminder of that. She tried to stand confidently while withstanding the imposing predator's scrutiny. "I know, but standing behind your back isn't going to do me any good either, is it?"

Scar couldn't deny that. "No, it will make you look weak. But you can't go too far either or he might think of it as a challenge."

"Well, I trust you to correct me if I say something bad", Lex wanted to shrug casually to convince Scar that she knew what she was doing, but she couldn't. She didn't know.

It was like she had expected. This hunter was nothing like Stealth or Scar. He was clearly a veteran of many battles, that much was clear from his countless scars and one missing mandible, not to mention the amount of impressive weaponry he was carrying.

That wasn't the only thing obvious to the eye. His confident stance and the commanding look in his eyes, they were a clear indication of someone demanding respect. And somehow Lex was sure that most of the time he got it.

"_I will hear her then_", Wolf said and Scar noticed the pondering tone in his words. He was glad that the older predator didn't have a language translator in his mask, not that he was wearing it anyway. It sounded like he hadn't yet formed any kind of opinion of the woman and now he could make sure when he would, it wouldn't be the worst possible.

Not that Scar didn't have faith in Lex and her ability to survive. He knew her to have a warrior's heart, courage to stand up to any foe and unwavering loyalty to her own. In fact, it was that loyalty that he was somewhat worried about. It easily led to situations where one would go too far with defending the other. That was something either one of them could do for each other.

Scar was still a young hunter and it hadn't been long since his rite of passage. He hadn't yet earned the older hunter's respect. Lex was in a worse situation since she was a human. An outsider. It would be nearly impossible for her to gain the veteran's respect.

Holding in his worry, Scar told Lex what they had been talking about before she had interrupted them. "He's questioning my decision to give you the tribe's mark. And not jus that, he wants to know why we are here together again."

Lex pondered just for a second and then took a proud look on her face. "Tell him I earned that mark because I succeeded in where those other hunters failed. And as for us both being here, a lot of it's just coincidence."

Scar hesitated, but did as told. The older hunter's expression didn't change when he took a slow step forward. Lex didn't know what to expect and she wanted to glimpse inquiringly at Scar, but somehow she was sure that looking away now would be bad. So she endured, forcing her fear to subside with sheer determination.

Wolf observed her, if possible, even more closely. Lex felt like he was one step away from starting a hands-on inspection. Fortunately the uncomfortable situation didn't last, as the seasoned warrior ended the silence in a sound that Lex could, even with the language barrier, interpret as contemptuous. His next words made Lex frown as Scar translated.

"He says participating in one hunt doesn't mean that you are a hunter yet. Considering how small and measly you are he doesn't think you're ever going to make a hunter."

The whole time he was speaking, Scar was reluctant to say the words that he found offending to the woman. Continuing the translation wasn't any easier. "Besides, he thinks the last time you were probably more lucky than skilled."

Lex was carefully quiet for a while, then let out a brief laugh at the demeaning statement. When she thought about it, the words were probably not even meant as an insult, it was just what the warrior considered to be a fact. She would either have to try and change that or just let it go.

"I would be happy to better my skills, but unfortunately we have a bit of a situation here now. Tell him Scar, if you haven't yet."

Scar explained what had happened, from the beacon designed to lure hunters, to the captured warrior who had never been found and the predalien queen that was the result of all of this. The older warrior was understandably angered by such desecration, but kept his anger under control and let the younger hunter finish his story.

Scar didn't mention Stealth at any point, but emphasized how he had been working with Lex and other human warriors to end the bug infestation before it could properly begin. When he mentioned the humans, Wolf took another look at Lex, who had no idea what they were talking about. If she had known, she might have guessed that the warrior was looking at her apparent injuries that she had collected along the way. He just didn't know she had gotten most of them from encounters with Stealth and not the xenomorphs.

Then came the difficult part. Scar braced himself.

"_It's my estimation that the situation is out of hands. The bugs are currently contained below the ground, but they could break free at any minute. I can't risk letting a queen lose. That would be the end of this planet and the human race._"

Wolf's eyes narrowed as he started to suspect where the speech was heading at.

"_I request discontinuing the hunt and calling the ship for…_"

That was as far as Scar made it when the seasoned warrior rammed into him. The attack took him by surprise and they fell to the ground, wrestling.

Lex was even more surprised and cried out for Scar in horror. He couldn't hear her from their battle if that's what it could've been called. Despite his best efforts he was quickly overcome by his experienced adversary, who pinned him face down to the ground and arms behind his back in a painful angle.

"_Have you lost your mind youngblood?_" Wolf lectured the younger hunter. "_You would bring yourself to shame so easily? Throw away a promising future. For what?_"

Scar growled in frustration and embarrassment until he caught a glimpse of Lex. The woman had extended the spear in her hands and was shouting with a furious look.

"Let him go right now! I swear I'll…"

"Lex no!" Scar shouted back alarmed. "Don't do anything, just put the spear away!"

Wolf looked back at the noisy human and saw her, weapon readied and in a battle stance. "_That human's got guts, but she's not too good at picking her battles, is she?_"

Scar couldn't have agreed more. "Lex drop the spear now!"

"_I wonder…_" Wolf released Scar and headed for the woman.

The older predator was impossibly fast and Lex found herself staggering backwards when he suddenly appeared in front of her.

"LEX!" Scar scrambled up to go after the warrior. Lex held her spear sideways in front of her, not quite daring to attack the older predator and not knowing what else to do. For a second, she stared into the yellow eyes that showed no emotion, then the spear was being pulled away from her with such force she couldn't do anything to hold on to it.

The next thing Lex knew, she was being held in place by a strong grip on the back of her neck. She was facing Scar and saw him frozen in his tracks, a mixture of anger and fear plastered to his face. It was weird, she couldn't remember him being afraid before, maybe surprised when the queen had emerged in Antarctica, but not exactly scared then either. She knew it was for her, he would never be afraid for himself, but now he was afraid for her.

Wolf's grip was meant to keep her still, not to hurt her, but Lex didn't bother kidding herself. That hand could as easily break her neck if the warrior wanted to. Unfortunately, not even knowing what had started the fight, she had no idea what it was that he wanted.

Scar and Wolf were locked in a staredown, each waiting for the other's move. When the older hunter didn't do anything, Scar spoke first.

"_Let her go._"

"_What is she to you?_" Wolf's voice was strict. "_A pet? A hunting partner? Answer me!_"

Scar stood there, lost. "_She's here hunting the bugs with me and…_" He tried evading, but the older warrior wasn't fooled by this.

Lex heard a sharp swishing sound that she knew all too well. Then she felt the cold tips of the dual wristblades grazing the skin on her chest where her heart was. She held her breath, looking desperately at Scar in search of some reason for why this was happening.

Scar was close to bursting with rage, his fear the only thing holding him back. "_You hurt her and I promise I will kill you!_"

There was no more evading, no words to say that could explain his reaction. It was now as plain as day. Wolf shook his head disappointed. He withdrew his wristblades and let go of Lex, who looked back at him and then at Scar in confusion.

"_You've grown too fond of this human._"

Scar gestured for Lex to come to him. "_Yes._"

"_What are you going to do?_"

Lex walked next to Scar, who wrapped his arm defiantly around her shoulder. "_I'm not coming back with you when the hunt's over._"

Wolf remained quiet for a while. "_You do realize that means you're going to be exiled from the tribe? Losing your honor and becoming a badblood?_"

The answer was in Scar's eyes already, but before he could say anything, they heard a strange, scraping sound, which caught everyone's attention.


	35. The final showdown draws near

Well, i'm back again. Thank you for waiting patiently and posting comments that inspire me to continue. :) I hope you like this chapter and i think you can guess from the ending that the next one will be quite action filled. :)

**GrayHuntress**: Thanks! I myself enjoy writing a new predator character for a change. :)

**xXxSaiyanPrincessxXx**: That's a party i'd like to attend to. xD Heh, Scar doesn't need to say it, the whole world pretty much knows his feelings already. x)

**Bookworm Gal:** Thanks! Mwahaha, it can always get worse, i just need to think how. :D

**xVentressx**: Don't worry, thanks for writing now. :) I always feel bad for keeping you waiting for so long. xP

**bree51**: Thank you for being pumped. xD We'll have to see where Wolf goes from here. He's technically not allowed to interfere in the hunt as long as it's still going.

**MrsTayla**: Thanks! I'm glad if bringing Wolf in was a surprise, i was sure everyone would somehow guess it right away. :D

**blackangel150**: Indeed. x)

**Deadman19**: Thanks! And wait no more, here it is. :D

**Meramor**: I can imagine that too. xD In fact so well that i'll probably take that as my next drawing project, it sounds so funny. :D And don't worry, i'm not telling Wolf, i've already got Scar after me for that april fool's chapter and i don't want to imagine what a more experienced hunter would do to peope who annoy them. x)

**Dragowolf**: Yeah, it could end badly for Scar with Wolf knowing. I guess it's now all up to what kind of a person Wolf is. Can't tell you anything yet, because i still don't know him well enough. :)

**SouzouWriter**: Whew, so i can breathe easier again. :) Yeah, Wolf. That's what i do, i rescue predators from the dead. x)

**MaiWishes**: Heh, thanks! :) I admit it, i have an unhealthy addiction for cliffhangers. x)

**Themulesrule1902**: I'm blushing now just thinking about it. I basically tried to type the words with my eyes closed. xD But i guess it was worth it to spread giggles through the masses of dirty and naughty predator fan girls. ;D

**Luv4Uncas**: That's good to hear. :D

**Arkenna**: Thanks! And sorry for your suffering with my cliffhangers. Maybe two cliffhangers would make a right? ;P

**SakuraGirl25**: Thank you very much! :) I love hearing what people think of my characters.

**ShyLittleDevil**: I'm also glad that you did. Thanks! :D

**WeskerSlayer99**: Scar is great that way. :D

**SheWolfMedjai**: Aaalrighty then! :D

**Dee-em-elle**: Heeeere you go. :)

**InvisibleGirl**: Wow, that was the longest review i've ever seen. O.o Beauty and the beast is actually my favourite of the old disney movies, so i'm pretty sure that does explain something. x) I'm downright thrilled about your comments on my characters, because, really, they're like your children in a way and it's great hearing that they're succeeding in what they're supposed to be doing. :)

And a good thing you also liked the phony april fool's chapter, i was so uncertain with that. Though i guess i can't go wrong with the queen and the nom nom and Vincent's ass. xD The liking for slowly forming friendship/romance is something we have in common, i really hate it when the excitement wears off too quickly.

All in all, thank you very much for taking what must've been a lot of time to write such a long review, i must admit, i experienced a slight jawdrop when i first saw it. :D

** :** Thank you! :D I'll try to be faster with these chapters so that you will find out. x)

I don't own AvP, just my own characters.

* * *

Antonio wondered how long it would take before the woman would run out of energy and collapse. He'd been watching Annie's determination first in her efforts at protecting Mark, then avenging the presumably dead boy and now her efforts at finding him after they had learned he was presumably still alive. The whole time Annie had given her all in every step of the way, somehow managing to cope with Stealth, although Antonio had no idea how the hell she was doing it.

Even now they were running. They had stopped to quickly stock up on weapons, desperately needing the extra firepower in case things would get nearly as bad as they were expecting. The question in every human's mind was, would they really find Mark alive. The question everyone was trying not to think was, would they be in time to stop the dreaded queen from escaping and spreading its parasitic offspring out into the world.

Stealth was also calculating the situation in his head. He could sense it in his very being, the queen's approaching presence. All of his warrior's instincts were cheering with joy and anticipation for the honorable battle that was waiting for them. Still, at the same time the sensible hunter knew, he didn't stand much of a chance impaired by the humans' drug and alone.

The humans didn't count to him. Even if Lex had fought a queen with Scar before and survived, the humans were still untrained and unprepared for something so powerful. And as much as Stealth hated having to admit it, he could've used Scar's help. At the current state of things he had no idea when the hothead was even planning on coming back. If he was.

Annie led their way, turning confidently in every corner. She seemed to know exactly where they were going even though they weren't sure if they had chosen the right place from the map. But whether it was her instincts guiding her or just luck, they did find something.

Keith was keeping the rear and almost missed the faint sound. He wasn't sure what he had heard, but it was enough to make him stop. Antonio who had been running almost beside him, noticed the sudden change and stopped too.

"What?"

Keith backtracked a few steps in front of a room with the door slightly ajar. "I'm not sure…" He started hesitantly and then gasped. "Shit!"

Slamming the door open and barging into the room, Keith left a very perplexed Antonio standing in the hallway, shouting for the others to wait. Then he ran after the big man, making it only a couple steps inside before stopping in his tracks.

"Oh no…" he breathed silently at the sight he was seeing. Soon Annie stood beside him and even Stealth's curiosity won as his head appeared way higher behind the others.

"Oh hell, old man… What have you been doing to end up like this?" Keith was kneeling next to the old sheriff, supporting him against the side of a desk, so that he was in a half-sitting position. The trail of blood on the floor revealed that he was badly injured.

Keith noted how pale the anguished man was and hurried to check his injury. An angry frown spread on his face. "Who shot you?"

The sheriff raised his tired eyes and pushed at Keith's hands as the man was trying to stop the slow, but steady stream of blood that was gushing from the wound. "Don't bother. It may take some time… but I'm still as good as dead, I can feel it."

Coughing and instantly cringing from the pain caused by it, the sheriff turned his head to look at the others. His eyes seemed to brighten and a faint smile crept on his lips. "Mark will be so happy to see that you are alright… He's been doing nothing, but worrying about you since you got separated."

That got Annie's attention and she came to kneel beside the old man. "Where is he? What happened here?"

"He was alright the last time I saw him", the sheriff assured her, trying to calm down the obvious fear in the woman's eyes. "Vincent took him… He wanted him alive."

"For what?" Annie didn't like the sound of that and the apologetic look on the sheriff's face told that the answer wasn't going to be to her liking.

"I'm not sure, but I would bet he's using him as an insurance… or bait. He was acting strangely when we found him", talking was clearly tiring the injured man out, but he kept at it feverishly. "It's my fault for not being more careful… We we're just talking when he turned around and fired a shot… His face didn't change one bit when he pulled the trigger…"

"Save your strength", Keith ordered, concentrating again on stopping the wound from bleeding. "We're getting you out of here, so no more…"

"Oh, _you _save _your _breath!" the sheriff suddenly snapped and started coughing violently again. "Taking me anywhere won't change a thing, you know that… I won't last to the nearest hospital…and you're not going to split up… you need to find Mark…"

"We will", Annie promised as much to the sheriff as to herself. "And you can bet Vincent's going to be begging for mercy before I hang him by his balls."

"I believe you", the sheriff let out a weak laughter and seemed to relax a bit. "Just get going before it's too late."

"I'm staying", Antonio announced quietly, his expression unusually bleak. He hadn't said anything after they had entered the room, but it was obvious he was in shock. He almost matched the dying man in paleness.

Keith nodded, surrendering his place to him as Antonio came to the sheriff's side. The grey-haired man started to make objections, but was cut off quickly.

"They don't need me, I think it's pretty clear to everyone at this point that I'm not a warrior", Antonio managed to squeeze his lips together to make a pitiful attempt of a smile. "And looking at the type Lex is currently interested in, I'm beginning to suspect that's also the reason why I never had much luck with her."

The lousy attempt at lightening the general mood was a failure, but nobody blamed him this time. Keith, who had known the man through some thick and thin, mostly thick, knew that this was the only way he could cope with difficult situations. He also knew that Antonio had known the sheriff a lot longer than any of them.

"Well, whatever", Antonio shrugged off the silence. "Just get going, I'll catch up with you later."

No further discussion was needed. Keith and Annie understood Antonio's reasoning and agreed in their minds that the old sheriff didn't deserve to die alone like that. Both gave their last regards to the brave man and braced themselves to find his killer.

Stealth had already disappeared from the doorway, no doubt uninterested in the humans' affairs. As soon as the sounds of the last faint steps had faded away, Antonio let out a heavy sigh and collapsed on to the floor next to the sheriff, leaning his back against the desk too.

The silence they were immediately wrapped in, felt like it was taking them away from time and space, from all of the problems they had just discussed. Antonio brought back to his mind the times he had spoken with the sheriff. The man had always been there to guard the nearby small town as far as he knew. His parents had known him and Antonio remembered admiring the gun-wielding law-enforcer as a child.

Sighing again, he got up and started to go through the cabinets and desk drawers. The sheriff raised a brow. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something to properly tie that wound with."

"It's a waste of…"

"No it's not! It could be that the bullet didn't hit anything crucial and that we can still get you out once the others come back."

The old man didn't say anything. Antonio concentrated on his search realizing that he was probably in denial, but he couldn't help it. He was feeling like a child who was angry and disappointed in finding out that the person he'd once so much looked up to, wasn't in fact invincible.

* * *

"I'll go take a look ahead first", Keith spoke in a low voice. "No sense in all of us rushing there at once without knowing what's waiting us there."

"Suits me", Annie replied. It actually was what she had been hoping for. Now she had a chance to do something about a thing that had bugged her for some time now. As soon as Keith disappeared from sight, Annie turned to Stealth, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Alright, what are you up to?"

The predator looked at her, seemingly perplexed by the sudden accusation. "What… do you mean?"

"Don't play innocent, it doesn't suit you. You haven't said anything after we went our separate ways with Lex and Scar. Not one annoying or indecent remark."

"You want me to… say something indecent?" The hunter's otherwise expressionless face got a hint of amusement.

"I want an explanation to why you're acting so off-character."

The woman's gaze was relentless and it was clear she wasn't going to give up until she had gotten an answer. Stealth still found her intriguing enough to decide and humor her.

"Have you ever seen… a bug queen?"

Annie failed to see what that had to do with anything, but shook her head. "Only in some satellite pictures."

"Let me… put it this way then. On our hunts for a queen… it usually takes… about seven experienced hunters… to capture one. Killing it… isn't much easier. You only need to make… one mistake and it will… most likely be fatal."

"So how does that answer my question?"

"That kind of battle… requires a lot of focusing… beforehand."

"Well I guess that's good then", Annie admitted warily, still finding the presence of the unpredictable warrior unnerving. "But tell me where will your focus be then? Just on the queen? Or anyone else, like Vincent?"

Stealth shrugged, his arms still crossed. "Whichever comes first… since that human… seems to be the only one… I'm allowed to hunt."

Annie huffed mockingly. "It was your deal, no need to sound bitter."

"And you should… sound happier that I… made that deal… or else none of you… would be alive."

"And would you have preferred that?" Annie wasn't sure what fueled her curiosity, but she kept her questions coming. "Why did you even start making deals?"

Stealth hadn't expected their little conversation to go that far and found no simple answer to the woman's question. However, he noticed that he didn't find her inquiring disturbing. Even though she hadn't expressed anything, but hostility towards him, she had an uncanny way of making sharp observations and an equally sharp way of expressing them. That was something he found entertaining.

"I'm starting to suspect… that you're trying to…get me killed… by ruining my focus."

"I wouldn't mind if that happened", Annie stated the cold truth.

After that, she let the questions be and turned away from the hunter. She had gotten some kind of an answer to her original question and that would have to suffice. It didn't seem that bad of an idea to start focusing herself. But unlike Stealth was thinking, there wouldn't be any fighting with the queen. Not if things went as planned and the place would soon be blown up.

Well… he could stay and fight, she wasn't going to be the one to give him a heads up. In fact, she was pretty sure no one would.

* * *

"It looks quiet", Keith gave his report after returning to the others. "So there's obviously something fishy going on. I think we'd better…"

Before he could even finish his thought, a voice started booming through the empty hallways. "To those interested: We're about to have our very first open house today. Only instead of getting to know this facility, you'll be given the chance at taking a gander at the outside world. So every xenomorph get ready, first come, first served."

"That didn't come from the speakers", Keith observed.

Annie agreed. "Vincent's probably using a megaphone to attract them."

"What do you think he's going to do when they come?"

"Get eaten obviously. Can't you hear him? He's completely lost it."

They both listened to the rambling that was still continuing. "Come on everybody, step right up. If you can't wait to get to the juicy brains, I'm offering you one for the road right here."

"You're right", Keith stared in disbelief to the direction where the sound was coming from. "If he's really planning to donate his brain to better use, he's definitely gone over the board."

A horrible thought dawned on Annie. "He's crazy alright, but I don't think he's stupid or has a death wish. Mark's with him."

"Then we gotta go now", Keith repositioned the assault rifle he had hanging over his shoulder and turned to leave, Annie right behind him.

If the situation hadn't been so critical, Annie would have continued to watch her back carefully for the sly hunter, but right then he was the last thing on her mind. Running as fast and as silently as they could, both Annie and Keith completely forgot about him.

Stealth stayed behind for a while, practically smelling the trap ahead, but not caring enough to warn the humans. His mind was set on his own survival. After either him or the queen was dead, it would be time to start setting the scores straight with everyone else.

He hadn't forgotten anything and it wasn't like him to let things go just like that.

* * *

Vincent's whereabouts were not difficult to figure out, all they had to do was follow the insane ramblings that continued form time to time. It led them to the same loading area Annie had seen on the map before.

It was a dangerous area, she could see it right away. Too many piles of crates and supporting columns, creating blind spots everywhere. Besides, some of the lights were turned off, courtesy of Vincent she presumed. Both her and Keith had their weapons ready, Stealth was nowhere to be seen.

They pinpointed the source of the talking to the other side of the hall and approached carefully using the large crates as shelter. In Annie's mind, there was nothing that could stop her from going there and putting a bullet between Vincent's eyes. She was going to off that miserable bastard now and be done with it. Then she was going to get Mark and get him out of there. Nothing else existed to her right then.

Until she heard the screeches.

"No not now…" she muttered through gritted teeth and started running, not caring what was waiting for her ahead.

"Annie!" Keith stage whispered angrily, then darted after her.

The horrible sound, no, sounds that they now heard behind them from the corridors chilled him to the bone. He was fairly sure that there now were more than the few xenomorphs originally found from the predator ship. The queen had been laying eggs and he knew there had been people unfortunate enough not to evacuate in time.

"Keith, here!" Annie called to him frantically, the reason soon becoming clear for him.

They had found Mark, tied up and hanging from his wrists in the air from a telescopic crane. It looked badly like he had been lifted up there to be served as the first course. Mark saw them too and started wriggling, trying uselessly to free himself or at least get the tape that was covering his mouth off.

Then they heard Vincent's voice again, from behind the crane. Annie walked around the thing and cocked her pistol, her finger already starting to squeeze the trigger. She found no one.

Disappointed and confused, she stared at the small recording device on the floor that somebody had at some point probably used for making notes. Now it was spouting Vincent's crazy talk into an electric megaphone next to it. Its switch was taped so that it had stayed on the whole time.

Annie crushed the recorder under her boot and returned to Keith who had by now guessed that she hadn't found Vincent.

"We have problems", the large man spoke with a considerable amount of anxiety in his voice.

"I can see that for myself, thank you", Annie replied pointedly, hurrying to check the crane for a key. Apparently there was a silver lining in this cloud, since amazingly it was still there.

Keith kept insisting, almost dragging her out of the crane. "I mean _more _problems. Look!"

Annie looked up again, this time taking a closer look at Mark. Her eyes widened when she saw what Keith was pointing to. A collar around Mark's neck. The same collar they had put on the original xenomorphs.

"That gutless sack of…" the infuriated woman was about to release an ear melting collection of insults for Vincent, but Keith stopped her before she got started.

"No time. We have to get him down first and fast."

"Yes, you concentrate on him", a mocking voice interrupted them. This time it wasn't coming from the recorder. "And I do recommend you hurry."

Annie knew there was a control room somewhere in the hall and her urge to go find it and empty her gun into the man who no doubt was sitting comfortably in there, watching them from monitors, was almost unbearable.

"Please be advised, however", the voice continued, as if guessing her thoughts. "that I hold the remotes for those collars. I'm sure that by now you've noticed your friend's wearing one also. So there will be no one coming after me or I will detonate it. I am here simply to get things started and then I'm off to watch the fireworks from a safe distance. It's a shame, though, that I must sacrifice this valuable facility and all of its research for this, but there are others, this won't be the end of it."

More of the screeching screams drowned out the rest of Vincent's speech. Keith spun around and began heading back where they had come from. "Get him down! I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"You want one of these?" Annie offered him one of her grenades.

Keith grinned and lifted his shirt to reveal a bunch of grenades hanging neatly in a bunch from his belt. "I think I'm good."

With that, he left and Annie returned to start up the crane. She heard Vincent's voice once again, hating the fact that it was again his voice they got stuck with, the man himself being as elusive as a buttered up slug.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I did leave you with one remote I tossed on top of one of the crates. You know it has a disengaging mechanism to open the collars? So if you're not too busy, you might want to look for that."

Annie turned the key and at the same time the crane's engine came to life, she heard the first short bursts of Keith's gun.


End file.
